4 killed, 9 injured in shooting at high school in southern Philippines

MANILA — At least four people were killed and nine injured in a shooting early Tuesday at a high school in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, including the alleged shooter, local media reported.

The school shooting, the country’s second in as many months, took place at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, a Catholic private institution in western Mindanao.

The incident occurred shortly before classes were due to begin, police said.

The National Bureau of Investigation said two students and two security guards were killed and nine others were injured in the shooting. The identities of the victims have not been released.

The shooter was identified as male and a fourth-year high school student whose father reportedly worked at the Zamboanga City Customs Office, according to The Manila Times

The alleged shooter and the victim were both students at the Jesuit-run private school, said Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso.

Police and investigators remain at the scene as authorities determine the motive and examine possible security lapses.

The alleged shooter managed to sneak in a .45-calibre pistol into the school, Olaso told local radio.

Authorities said the suspect opened fire inside a classroom “without apparent provocation before turning the gun on himself.”The suspect fired at the teacher who was seated at the table, but missed. Afterwards, the suspect moved to another classroom and shot a student who later died, Olaso said.

A livestream footage of the shooting, circulated by local media, showed what appeared to be a first-person perspective, with a gun barrel moving down a hallway, AFP reported.

In the video that was seemingly live-streamed on Facebook, the barrel of a gun can be seen moving down a hallway in the style of a first-person shooter video game before being pointed into a classroom and fired.

Children in school uniforms are then seen screaming and rushing for an exit.

The alleged shooter’s Facebook account has since been disabled.

“The investigation is ongoing... We are still trying to identify the motive,” police spokeswoman Shella Chang told AFP, adding the crime scene was now being processed.

It was not immediately clear how many had been injured.

The school separately confirmed the two fatalities.

“We have already coordinated with parents and guardians to pick up their children and the university has ensured the safety of those remaining on campus,” it said in a statement.

The incident comes two months after a high school shooting in Tacloban City in the central region left three students killed and 20 others wounded.

The suspects in that shooting were two teenage boys, one of whom was found to have regularly played an explicitly violent online game.

The sandbox game, Gorebox, has been banned in the Philippines and the Senate is investigating the effects of violent computer games on young people.

Legal gun ownership is tightly regulated in the Southeast Asian country, but a large black market exists for firearms.

Ateneo de Zamboanga last month became one of many schools across the country to conduct active shooter drills.

Across South East Asia, authorities are looking at restricting social media use for minors, citing possible ill effects.

Earlier this month, a Thai teenager killed eight people and himself at his school. Authorities said he consumed violent content on social media.