3 killed, 8 injured in another school shooting in southern Philippines
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Police investigators gathering evidence after a mass shooting in the southern Philippines that left at least three people dead on Sept 18.
PHOTO: AFP
- Three students, including the 16-year-old shooter, were killed and eight others injured in a school shooting at Banga National High School, in southern Philippines, on Sept 18.
- The shooter warned friends before the attack, possibly motivated by low morale from poor grades, and then killed himself after shooting 10 students.
- Officials urge parents to secure firearms from minors, highlighting challenges in school security amid recent deadly shootings in the Philippines and the region.
AI generated
MANILA – At least three students were killed and eight others injured in a shooting at a high school in the southern Philippines on Sept 18, the country’s third deadly campus incident since June.
Local rescuers received a call about gunfire on the campus of Banga National High School in Banga town, South Cotabato province on the southern island of Mindanao, at about 1.30pm.
Banga Mayor Albert Palencia said at least three students, aged 14 to 17, were killed in the incident, including the alleged shooter, a 16-year-old.
“The suspect supposedly sat beside his friends and told them to go home ‘because after lunch, I will be executing my plan’. His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker,” Palencia told Reuters.
“After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself,” he added.
In a video posted on Facebook and confirmed by Agence France-Presse, a man can be seen carrying what appears to be a wounded child from the school, rushing him into the sidecar of a waiting motorcycle.
In a separate interview with DZBB radio, Palencia said the suspected shooter appeared to have fired indiscriminately at students in a classroom next to his own after leaving his Grade 9 classroom.
He said the suspect used a 9mm pistol belonging to his father, a Department of Education employee, after breaking into a vault where the firearm was stored and taking it to school.
The teenager carried two magazines and reloaded after emptying the first one before turning the gun on himself.
Palencia described the suspect as an intelligent student and active in taekwondo, adding there was no indication he had been bullied.
South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo urged parents to ensure guns were kept out of reach of minors. “We need to be responsible in storing firearms. Gun owners, in particular, must make sure that minors do not have access to them,” he said.
“We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students,” he added. “We need to work together, because otherwise this will be very difficult for us to address.”
The authorities are also examining the role of online communities in the attack.
Palencia, citing information from police, said investigators found the suspect posted in an online “true crime” community and were trying to determine the nature of the online group.
The disclosure comes after a Senate inquiry into a deadly school shooting in June examined the role of this so-called community, which police cybercrime officials describe as an online network of young people who share and consume violent extremist content.
On June 22, two students armed with hand guns opened fire in a high school in Tacloban city, in central Philippines, killing three fellow students and wounding another seven.
On Aug 18, a student in Zamboanga city, also in Mindanao, live-streamed himself shooting and killing another student before taking his own life.
The video shows him entering one classroom and opening fire. He then changed weapons, entered the second classroom and fired more rounds. A student is seen lying on the ground in unclear condition. The suspects, aged 14 and 15, were arrested.
The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements.
Yet, crimes involving the use of firearms are prevalent in the country, partly due to the proliferation of unlicensed firearms, but school shootings are relatively rare.
In 2022, a man armed with pistols opened fire at an upscale university in the Manila metropolitan area ahead of a graduation ceremony, killing a former Philippine town mayor with whom the suspect had a long-running feud, and two others in the brazen attack. The gunman was arrested.
The Sept 18 shooting also follows a high-profile incident in Thailand in August, where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of the capital Bangkok. AFP, REUTERS