MANILA // 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 Sunday.
Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said the identification of Jessie Javier Carlos, a Catholic, proves that claims by ISIL that it was responsible for Friday’s attack were false.
“We reiterate that this is not an act of terrorism but this incident is confined to the act of one man alone,” he said as he sat alongside Carlos’s parents and wife at a press conference to announce the identity of the attacker.
Carlos, 43, had been banned from all casinos in April by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) by family request because of his gambling addiction.
“He is heavily indebted due to being hooked to casino gambling. This became the cause of misunderstanding with his wife and parents,” Mr Albayalde said.
“He was barred by Pagcor 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 petrol, before setting alight a number of different rooms in the complex, according to police accounts.
Thirty-seven people died in the fire, 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 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 gambling tables, which police said was probably an attempt to create a diversion so he could escape.
On Sunday, 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,” said his mother, Teodora Carlos.
Mr Albayalde said Carlos had worked in the Department of Finance but had been sacked because he had lied on official forms about unexplained assets and properties.
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.
Authorities had repeatedly insisted on Friday and Saturday the attack was not terrorism-related but a bizarre robbery attempt by a deranged man. After identifying Carlos as the attacker on Sunday, the Manila police chief repeatedly sought to discredit ISIL claims.
“We will not allow people or any threat group to use this situation to advance their propaganda or personal causes, whether foreign or local,” he said.
* Agence France-Presse