Zamboanga: 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 that the shooting occurred at a school affiliated with Ateneo de Zamboanga University. University President Ernald Andal confirmed that the attack had ended and that there was no longer an active shooter.
Andal remarked that, “As of now, we confirm that there are two fatalities.” Regional police identified the suspected attacker as a ninth-grade student who allegedly brought a pistol and rifle onto the school campus and opened fire inside a classroom. The victim was a male student one grade above the suspect.
Police spokeswoman Shella Chang said authorities were processing the crime scene and investigating the motive behind the attack. The school said it had coordinated with parents and guardians to collect their children and had taken steps to ensure the safety of students and staff remaining on campus.
A video circulated by local media and apparently livestreamed on Facebook showed what appeared to be a gun being carried through a school hallway before shots were fired into a classroom. Students in school uniforms could be seen screaming and running towards an exit. The alleged attacker’s Facebook account has reportedly since been disabled.
School shootings are relatively rare in the Philippines, which maintains gun ownership regulations that include background checks and psychological evaluations. However, illegal firearms remain a concern in the country.
The Zamboanga shooting comes less than two months after another school attack in the Philippines. In June, two students were arrested following a shooting at a public high school in Tacloban City that left at least three students dead and about 20 others injured.
The latest incident also follows a deadly school shooting in Thailand earlier this month, where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of Bangkok.
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