The security footage shows the man responsible for one of the Philippine capital's deadliest attacks in years casually exiting a taxi just after midnight and walking calmly into a vast entertainment and gambling complex like any other visitor.
Shortly afterward, he dons a black mask, slips on an ammunition vest and pulls an M4 carbine assault rifle out of his backpack.
What follows borders on the surreal: a slow-motion arson attack and robbery so methodical and unhurried, the gunman appears to walk much of the way - even as he exchanges fire with security forces and flees, slightly wounded, up a stairwell.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the early yesterday rampage at the Resorts World Manila complex; a least 37 patrons and employees died, mostly from smoke inhalation while they hid, while the gunman fled to an adjoining hotel and reportedly killed himself.
But authorities say the video footage shown to reporters today by Resorts World bolsters the government's case that this was a botched robbery by a lone attacker with no known link to terrorism.
In his first remarks on the assault, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said today that the attacker was simply "crazy," questioning what the gunman was going to do with the USD 2 million horde of poker chips he had tried to haul away. Duterte discounted any links to the Islamic State group, saying this "is not the work of ISIS. The work of the ISIS is more cruel and brutal."
Despite several initially contradictory accounts of the chaos, what is known so far appears to back up that claim. Although the attacker was well armed - Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said he was carrying 90 bullets in three rifle clips - there are no confirmed reports that he shot any civilians. Instead, he fired warning shots into the ceiling that scattered panicked crowds, some of whom jumped out windows to escape what they believed to be a terror attack. More than 12,000 people were in the complex at the time; most were successfully evacuated.
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