An armed man who killed 37 people when he set fire to a casino in the Philippine capital was a father-of-three from Manila motivated by heavy gambling debts and not terrorism, police said yesterday.
The identification of the assailant as Jessie Javier Carlos, a Catholic, proves that claims by the Islamic State group that it was responsible for Friday’s attack were false, Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde told reporters.
“We reiterate that this is not an act of terrorism but this incident is confined to the act of one man alone,” Albayalde said as he sat alongside Carlos’ parents and wife at a news conference held to announce the identity of the attacker.
Photo: AFP
Carlos was aged 43, had three children and had been banned from all casinos in April by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcorp) following a request from his family because of his gambling addiction, Albayalde said.
“He is heavily indebted due to being hooked to casino gambling. This became the cause of misunderstanding with his wife and parents,” Albayalde said. “He was barred by Pagcorp from all casinos because of the request of next of kin. This could have probably triggered him. That’s why he was so mad at casinos.”
Carlos walked into the Resorts World casino and hotel complex in Manila on Friday with an M4 automatic rifle and a bottle of gasoline, before setting alight a number of different rooms in the complex, according to police accounts.
Thirty-seven people died in the fires, dozens more were injured in a stampede to escape and Carlos was found dead about five hours later in a hotel room after committing suicide by setting fire to himself, police had said.
Security film of the incident released on Saturday showed the gunman calmly and slowly walking through the casino and firing into the air most of the time, apparently as warning shots for people to leave.
At one point he fired at security guards when they confronted him, but missed. After they ran away, he calmly walked up some stairs.
The video also showed him breaking into a secure room where chips and money were being kept, apparently intent on stealing what he could.
Carlos set alight many gambling tables, which police said was probably an attempt to create a diversion so he could escape.
At the news conference, Carlos’s tearful mother said he had been a good man who committed the violence because of his gambling addiction.
“We ask for forgiveness. My son was a good child to us, but since he started playing at the casinos, that’s all he did. He did not visit us. It was painful for us not to see him,” Teodora Carlos said.
Carlos had worked in the Philippine Department of Finance, but had been sacked because he had lied on official forms about unexplained assets and properties, Albayalde said.
A 2014 government press release explaining the sacking described Carlos as a tax specialist, who had been fired for not declaring properties and for taking mysterious loans far more than a bank would lend.
After identifying Carlos as the attacker yesterday, Albayalde repeatedly sought to discredit the Islamic State group.
“We will not allow people or any threat group to use this situation to advance their propaganda or personal causes, whether foreign or local,” Albayalde said.
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