(Eagle News) — Police are now banking on the car the gunman in the Resorts World Manila attack used to identify him, this after the man they initially reported to be a “person of interest” was cleared.
“The owner of the car (we initially thought was used by the gunman) is a known personality, and people vouched for him. The car is really not registered to the perpetrator,” National Capital Region Police Office Chief Oscar Albayalde said in a television interview.
He said that since the police were “quite sure” that the gunman went to the hotel using a vehicle, they were hoping the Resorts World Manila hotel management would identify it.
“All the cars (from the time of the attack) are still there,” Albayalde said.
Death toll increases
Meanwhile, the death toll in the attack early Friday left 37 hotel employees and guests dead and 78 people injured, not 36 dead and 54 injured as earlier reported by the police.
Included among the dead was the wife of Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Dong Gonzales, Elizabeth.
A Southern Police District report said of the 78 injured, 23 were brought to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City, 14 to San Juan de Dios hospital, 21 to Villamor Airbase hospital, three to Pasay City General Hospital, and 17 to Remington hospital.
Authorities emphasized that this was not a terror attack, noting that the gunman, who barged inside the hotel with an armalite, and burnt furniture inside, had only tried to rob the casino there.
The backpack containing the chips he had tried to steal was recovered by authorities.