Two killed as student opens fire at Philippines high school, officials say

Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso says the casualties in Zamboanga were both students and included the gunman.

A gunman has opened fire at a high school in the ⁠southern Philippine city of ⁠Zamboanga, killing a student before turning the weapon on himself, according to local officials.

Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso told ‌DZMM radio that the shooting took place on Tuesday at a school attached to the Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga.

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He said the suspect shot a fellow student, who died, before shooting himself.

The university’s president, Ernald Andal, confirmed there was no longer an active shooting and said there were no additional fatalities or reported injuries.

“As of now, we confirm that there are two fatalities,” Andal said. “There are no more active shooters.”

The school said in a statement that it has “coordinated with parents and guardians to pick up their children” and had “ensured the safety of those remaining on campus”.

Regional police said the suspect was a ninth-grade student who had brought a “pistol and rifle inside the school campus” and opened fire in a classroom.

The victim was a male student a grade above him, police said.

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

In a video circulated by local media that appeared to have 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.

School shootings are rare in the Philippines, which has relatively strict ⁠gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements.

But ⁠illegal firearms remain in circulation in the country.

Tuesday’s attack follows a shooting at a public high school in June in Tacloban City in which at least three students were killed and about 20 others injured after two of their schoolmates opened fire on campus.

It also comes less than 10 days after a high-profile incident in Thailand, where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of the capital, Bangkok.