Authorities have identified the Resorts World Manila attacker as Jessie Carlos, a 43-year-old father of three. He was a man with a severe gambling problem — big enough that his family asked several casinos in Manila to ban him.
According to an InterAksyon report, Carlos was a former employee of the Department of Finance.
On Sat, June 3, the Philippine National Police showed the CCTV footage of Carlos’ rampage inside the hotel-casino complex, roughly 40 hours after the attack.
Carlos was seen entering the casino, bypassing the metal detectors, dismissing the security personnel and casually walking straight through with his unchecked backpack and an M4 armalite in hand.
He fired one warning shot, which sent most people running to escape or to hide. He then walked over to several gambling rooms and set tables ablaze. He then moved towards the slot machines, dousing the machines and the carpet with gasoline then set it on fire.
He then moved towards the back of the room where security personnel immediately ran away. As if knowing exactly where to go, the CCTV footage shows Carlos opening the right doors. Locked doors were shot with his high caliber gun. He went for the high valued black casino chips, which he stuffed in his bag.
The latter part of the surveillance footage shows Carlos exchanging fire with authorities and walking up the fire exit, seemingly in agony after being shot.
Authorities have ruled out terrorism as the motive to Carlos’ attack and said the heavily indebted suspect aimed to rob the casino. The attack left at least 35 people dead due to smoke inhalation at least 50 people injured.
Video courtesy of CNN Philippines’ Facebook page
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