The gunman at Resorts World Manila made victims believe that the attack was massive and prevented them from escaping suffocation, closed-circuit television footage (CCTV) presented to the House of Representative on Wednesday showed.
Most of the fatalities died of suffocation because they feared going out of their hiding places, said Resorts World president Kingson Sian, who presented the video footage to the joint hearing of the committees on tourism, public order and safety, and games and amusements committees.
Lawmakers learned of the same finding during the previous hearing.
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The video showed the gunman, Jessie Javier Carlos, setting fire to a casino table then throwing a bag of ammunition into the fire.
Around 300 rounds of bullets in the bag went off and made people to believe that there were more than one attacker, Sian said.
“We highlighted footage with audio to dramatize fear that was instilled upon people who were hiding,” Sian said.
Lawmakers noted that the casino’s sprinklers did not work while the casino table burned and caused the bullets to go off.
Before the video was played, Majority leader Rudy Fariñas expressed apprehension that it might go viral on social media and traumatize the victims’ relatives.
The committee allowed the presentation of the video after Resorts World Manila chief legal officer Georgina Alvarez said it would not show the fatalities.
“We will not reach that point or any level of goriness. At 12:43 a.m., the camera covering the fatalities went off because of smoke and soot,” Alvarez said.
During the previous hearing, lawmakers learned of the security lapses of the Resorts World, where the entrance was manned by only one guard.
READ: House grills Resorts World Manila officials for security lapses
The police have described Carlos as a gambling addict who was banned from all casinos and was in deep debt before he carried out the attack.
READ: Parents of gunman in Resorts World attack ask for forgiveness
During the attack on June 2, Carlos entered the casino carrying an assault rifle and fired shots. He went on to torch tables and steal P113.1-million worth of casino chips.
READ: Resorts World gunman identified as Jessie Javier Carlos, a Filipino
As security was in hot pursuit, Carlos holed himself up inside a room at a hotel adjacent to the casino. Inside the room, he reportedly shot himself after setting himself on fire.
The police declared the incident as a robbery even as the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.
READ: Security video shows methodical gunman in Resorts World attack
Carlos, a former tax specialist at the Department of Finance, was dismissed by the Ombudsman for alleged ill-gotten wealth and faced a forfeiture case before the Manila Regional Trial Court.
READ: DOF: Resorts World gunman dismissed for alleged graft, corruption
His parents have apologized to the victims, calling their son a kind man but addicted to gambling.
READ: Parents of gunman in Resorts World attack ask for forgiveness
The police have decried Resort World’s failure to implement its security plan, adding that there was only one security guard in the entrance for the graveyard shift at the time of the attack. CBB
READ: PNP finds gross security lapses at Resorts World
Originally posted at 12:12 | June 14, 2017