A MASKED gunman set fire to a gaming room at the Resorts World Manila casino on Friday, igniting a toxic blaze that killed 37 people, authorities said, but they insisted it was not a terrorist attack.
The victims suffocated inside one of the main gambling venues of the upscale casino and hotel, while dozens of other people were injured in a panicked crush to escape, police said.
The gunman committed suicide inside a hotel room by burning himself about five hours after storming the casino with an M4 assault rifle and a bottle of gasoline that he used to start the fire, police chief Ronald dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa and other police officials insisted the assailant was not carrying out a terrorist attack, pointing out he did not shoot anyone, and said it appeared to be a bizarre robbery attempt by a “deranged” man.
“This is not an act of terror. There is no element of violence, threat or intimidation that leads to terrorism,” Dela Rosa told reporters.
However, 37 people died from inhaling smoke from a fire that
spread quickly because of flammable carpet on the gaming room floors, according to Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde.
The gunman initially disappeared into the chaos of smoke and running people, leading to aa five-hour manhunt through the complex, which also includes a hotel and shops, Dela Rosa said.
He said the assailant, who appeared to be a foreigner because he spoke English and looked caucasian, was found just before dawn in a hotel room having committed suicide.
“He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a thick blanket, apparently poured petrol on the blanket and burned himself,” Dela Rosa said.
Before the gunman had been killed and police had confirmed any motive, there was an unconfirmed claim of responsibility from the Islamic State group. US President Donald Trump also branded it a “terrorist attack.”
But government officials were adamant it was not related to terrorism.
“This particular situation in Manila is not related in any way to a terrorist attack,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.
Dela Rosa said the man, acting alone, walked into one of the gaming rooms and fired the rifle at a large television screen, then poured gasoline onto a gambling table and set it alight.
He said the man then fired again at a stock room containing gambling chips and filled a backpack with chips worth P113 million ($2.3 million).
The man left the room and went upstairs to the hotel section, but left the backpack, Dela Rosa said.
The police chief said 18 of 54 injured people were in hospital. He said the others sustained only minor injuries.
Citing a scene of the crime report, Southern Police District chief Tomas Apolinario said the gunman set hotel Room 510 on fire then shot himself.
Police said they found a backpack with stolen chips worth more than P113 million and two firearms.
Apolinario said 36 people, most of them women, died from smoke inhalation. Their bodies were found in the gaming area on the second floor.
People inside the casino recounted a terrifying ordeal when the shooting broke out.
“I was about to return to the second floor from my break when I saw people running. Some hotel guests said someone yelled ‘ISIS’,” Maricel Navaro, an employee of Resorts World, told dzMM radio.
ISIS is another acronym for the Islamic State group.
“When we smelled smoke, we decided to go for the exit in the carpark. That’s where we got out. Before we exited, we heard two gunshots and there was thick smoke on the ground floor,” Navaro said.
Outside the complex, relatives of people caught inside waited on Friday to hear news of their loved ones.
“Our daughter called us past midnight saying she was in the VIP section of the casino and there was smoke and they were suffocating,” Gil Yongco, 42, said.
“We are very worried about her. We haven’t heard from her.”
Witnesses said a number of guests, including Korean and Japanese nationals, rushed to the emergency exits, while others went to the basement where the employee locker rooms and a canteen were located.
In a radio interview, Julio Silva, a casino guest, said he hid in the third-floor washroom for about 30 minutes.
“We heard gunshots and the people inside were in a panic,” he said.
Airport operations in Manila were disrupted by the attack for more than two hours, delaying several flights, the Civil Aviation Authority of Philippines said.
The main gates of the four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport were shut down from 1:45 a.m. to 3:45 a.m. following the shooting at the Resorts World.
Airport general manager Eddie Monreal ordered the terminals closed due to the proximity of the hotel.
“We wanted to make sure that the situation would not pose a threat to our operations,” he said.
Resorts World Manila released the names of 29 fatalities, 11 of them employees and 18 of them guests.
The employees were Hazel Yangco, Jellah Ramos, Melvin Herrera, Arvi Gavino, BJ Pagsibigan, Rojie S. Uy, Jessica Alindogan, Merylle Gwen Ala, Lea Grace Mozo, Lourdette Santos and Kay Nuguerra.
The guests who died were Caccam Katherine Cervantes, P. Ling Hung Lee, Pacita Guillermo Comquilla, Pomenciano Vargas Jr., Susan Abulencia, Lai Wei Chung, Jaime Gaboy Jr., Ariel Abrogar,
Lai Yu Cheeh, Cliff Reyneira, Rolando Pena Sison, Eluterio Reyes, Antonina Yuzon Allanigue, Shiela Malicse, Carmelita Taylo dela Cruz, Mielle Oliveros, Pamela Silvestre, and Elizabeth Gonzales.
The company said it would provide assistance to the families of those killed as well as those who were injured in the incident.
”This unexpected violent attack on innocent lives will not break the spirit on which Resorts World Manila was built. We ask [for] your prayer[s] during these dark hours,” the company said.
Malacañang on Friday said the incident at the Resorts World Manila was not an act of terror, but a criminal act carried out by an emotionally disturbed individual.
At a Palace briefing, Abella said that initial findings of police investigation have shown that “there are no indications of terrorist activity.”
“All indications point to a criminal act by an apparently emotionally disturbed individual. Although the perpetrator gave warning shots, there apparently was no indication that he wanted to harm or shoot anyone,” he said.
“All the deceased died due to suffocation at the second floor gaming area which had been set on fire by the perpetrator who eventually committed suicide in the fifth floor of the Maxims Hotel where he set himself on fire and then shot himself,” Abella said.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III was also quick to deny any link between the Resorts World shooting to the fighting in Marawi City in which government troops were battling Islamist terrorists for a week now.
Pimentel said the Resorts World incident looked like a criminal incident, and said the casino management should be asked how the gunman got through their security.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian warned that deranged people will take advantage of the situation in Mindanao.
“Many sill pretend that they are connected with the ISIS or Maute but they have a different motive. I think this one in Resorts World is probably connected to gambling and money,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who imposed martial law last week across Mindanao to crush what he said was a rising threat of IS there, has said he could extend military rule to the rest of the country if the threat of terrorism spread. With AFP, Macon Ramos-Araneta and PNA