A student was shot dead at a Catholic high school in the Philippines on Tuesday after another student allegedly livestreamed the attack before taking his own life, authorities said.
The incident occurred at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, a private Catholic institution in Zamboanga City in western Mindanao. It is the second school shooting reported in the Philippines within two months.
Regional police spokeswoman Shella Chang said the suspect entered the classroom where the victim was located before shooting the student. The suspect then reportedly went to the fifth floor of the school building and shot himself.
“What we know so far is that (the shooter) went to the classroom of our known victim. He shot the victim, and after doing that, he went up to the fifth floor and shot himself,” Chang told AFP.
Interior Secretary Victor Remulla separately confirmed that the ninth-grade suspect had livestreamed the incident on social media. The Facebook account allegedly used during the broadcast has since been disabled.
Local media circulated footage from the livestream, which reportedly showed a gun being moved through a school hallway before it was pointed into a classroom and fired. Students in school uniforms could then be seen fleeing while screaming.
Authorities had not immediately established whether other people were injured.
The national police have launched an investigation to determine what led to the attack, where the firearm came from and how it was brought onto the school premises.
The interior ministry said police were working to “establish the motive behind the shooting, determine the ownership and source of the firearm used, and find out how it was brought inside the school campus”.
Police had yet to release the ages of either the suspect or the victim.
Ateneo de Zamboanga University President Father Guillrey Andal confirmed the two deaths and said the institution was “deeply saddened” by the incident.
He said the school was working with investigators to identify those involved and contact their families.
“We are in the process of working with the police for us to be able to identify them, so that we can communicate first with their loved ones,” he told reporters outside the school, while acknowledging that the incident had caused “deep concern and worry”.
Andal also said the school had already been considering additional safety preparations before the shooting.
“Prior to this, our security team had even been preparing a simulation exercise, precisely because we understand the value to everyone — our students, our personnel — of safety.”
School shootings remain relatively uncommon in the Philippines. However, the latest incident follows a June attack at a school in the central part of the country in which three teenage students were killed and 20 others injured.
Following that tragedy, Ateneo de Zamboanga and other schools across the Philippines conducted active-shooter preparedness drills.
Although firearm ownership is subject to strict regulation in the Philippines, authorities have long faced challenges from an illegal market for guns.
The investigation is expected to focus on the circumstances that allowed the weapon onto the school campus, the motive behind the attack and the events leading up to the shooting.
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