Manila: Authorities have identified the assailant in the incident at the Resorts World casino in Pasay City that led to the death of 38 people.
Director Oscar Albayalde, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said police have identified 42-year-old Jessie Javier Carlos as the person who engaged hotel security in a gunfight on Friday night.
Carlos who was an employee of the Department of Finance was dismissed in 2014 due to anomalies in his asset declaration to the government. The Santa Crus, Manila, resident was said to have been a high stakes gambler and had run into problems with his finances, which led to estrangement with his wife.
“We believe this case can now be considered closed,” Albayalde said in a televised press briefing at noon on Sunday, less than three days after Carlos fired shots inside the premises of the casino and set fire to gambling tables before engaging security men in a brief gunfight and setting himself on fire before shooting himself.
The capital region police chief said investigations would continue as there were questions that still needed answers.
“The identification of Carlos will nevertheless settle a lot of issues,” Albayalde said.
It remains unclear how the perpetrator had access to a high-powered firearms such as the M4 assault rifle that he was seen lugging during the incident that started midnight on Friday.
Carlos was identified after his wife, Jen Carlos, came forward and told police that it was her husband who appeared in the video footage shown on television, Albayalde said.
“Actually it was only this morning we had positively identified the suspect as Jessie Carlos who was earlier banned from playing at the casinos by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation on the request of his own relatives,” the NCRPO chief said.
During the press briefing on Sunday, Albayalde said the clear motive for the incident was robbery and not terrorism as some quarters had suspected.
Hours after the fire broke out at the casino, the Daesh had claimed that the incident was carried out as an act against gambling which is prohibited under strict Islamic law (Sharia).
“Clearly the incident has nothing to do with terrorism based on what our investigations had uncovered,” Albayalde said.
The suspect’s father, Fernando Carlos, and mother Teodora made an emotional appeal during the press briefing to forgive their son for what he had done.
“My son had ran into a lot of problems since he had become addicted to gambling. He had sold the land in Laguna that he had inherited from us so that he could have money to play in the casino,” Fernando said.
Albayalde said Carlos’ body was positively identified from among the cadaver of the fire victims.
“He underwent a gall bladder operation some time ago and this was used by forensics experts to positively identify his charred remains,” Albayalde said.
According to authorities, 38 people died in the fire at the Resorts World complex.
Carlos had entered the Resorts World Hotel at past midnight on Friday, shooting to the air to scare away people and proceeding to a section in the casino where the gambling chips were stored.
According to authorities, Carlos were able to stash more than ten million pesos worth of chips in a knapsack before trying to make a getaway. He was also carrying with him bottles of kerosene. But as he was about to exit the complex, security caught up with him and engaged him in a brief shoot-out. The perpetrator got wounded and appeared to be resigned to his fate.
Police said Carlos wrapped himself in a floor rug and set it alight before shooting himself in the mouth.
