(Eagle News) — Police and hotel authorities on Saturday released for the first time footage of the actions of the gunman prior and during Friday’s hotel attack, which appeared to corroborate their earlier statements that the incident was not a terrorist attack.
The footage–which was released after Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said he believed the incident was an act of terrorism—showed how the gunman reached the establishment on board a taxi.
National Capital Region Police Office Chief Oscar Albayalde said based on an interview with the driver, he picked up the gunman in San Lorenzo, Manila earlier in the day.
“Everything normal”
He said the driver found “everything normal.”
At one point, the driver told the police the man–who was “white” and “big”–asked him to change what they were listening over the radio to the news.
“Accordingly, sinasabi natin, as per interview of the driver, deretso siya magTagalog,” Albayalde said.
“Normal lang. Kwentuhan lang,” Albayalde said.
Based on the footage, the gunman entered the establishment, and evaded the metal detector on the second floor, which prompted a lone member of the hotel security personnel—a woman–to accost him.
Upon seeing the firearm the gunman was carrying, the woman and several other people in the area scampered away instead.
At one point, the gunman and two other women were also seen boarding the elevator.
Two elevator passengers unhurt
“The gunman did not hurt passengers in the elevator. Kung terorista yan, he should have firwd,” Armeen Gomez, chief security officer of Resorts World Manila, said.
At one point, the gunman was also seen entering the stockroom in the casino where the gambling chips were stored, and filling his backpack with these.
Albayalde said it appeared the suspect knew exactly that the chips were stored behind the cashier.
The gunman also casually set fire on gambling tables in the casino area on the second floor.
Bureau of Fire Protection-National Capital Region chief Wilberto Kwan Tiu said that the fire did not get any bigger because the casino’s sprinkler system worked.
He added the establishment complied with the Building Code.
On the fifth floor, the gunman was seen setting fire on linen in a cart left abandoned on a hallway.
He also fired shots at the doorknob of what appeared to be room 510.
Responding policemen were seen getting to the fifth floor a little later.
According to Gomez, when they got to room 510, the gunman had already killed himself.
“Initial investigation was the firearm was on his chest and the gunshot wound in his mouth,” Albayalde said.
“Almost all terror attacks, they shoot everybody. I have not seen any terrorist who shot himself alone,” Albayalde added.
Gunman to be identified “soon”
He said the police would identify the gunman “as soon as possible” by “backtracking” based on the testimonials of the taxi driver.
He said they have also secured DNA from the blood stains from the suspect–who was hurt in the leg by security personnel– found by the stairwell.
A “profiling” can then follow.
In the same press conference, Resorts World Manila chief operating officer Stephen Reilly announced that the bereaved families of the victims would receive P1 million each.
