Two students lost their lives in a shooting at a high school in southern Philippines on Tuesday. One of the victims was the gunman himself. Authorities reported that the situation is now stabilized. This incident marks the second school shooting in the country within less than two months.
The attack happened at a school affiliated with the privately operated Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City. According to an initial police report, the shooter carried both a pistol and a rifle onto the campus and opened fire inside a classroom filled with students.
The shooter, a ninth-grade student, took his own life during the incident. The victim was a tenth-grade male student who was one year ahead of him.
Ernald Andal, the university’s president, confirmed that the active shooting has ceased and there are no additional injuries or fatalities. “Our priority is the safety of all our students, and we sincerely regret these tragic events,” Andal stated.
This incident follows a shooting in June at a public high school in Tacloban City, where three students were killed, and approximately 20 others were injured when two classmates fired shots during school hours.
School shootings are exceedingly rare in the Philippines, thanks to strict gun control laws that include background checks and psychological assessments. Nonetheless, illegal firearms still circulate within the country.
Footage from news channel ANC showed students and parents gathering outside the school gates, with armed police and military personnel present. Crime scene investigators were also seen arriving at the campus.
The school is a five-story building situated on an 8-hectare (roughly 20-acre) site and includes grades from elementary through junior high, according to its website.
This event comes less than ten days after a student carried out a shooting spree at a school on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, gaining widespread media attention.