Student killed in Catholic school shooting in Philippines
The alleged shooter, also a student, later took his own life.
A student at a Catholic junior high school in the southern Philippines was fatally shot by a peer, who subsequently committed suicide, a local official reported on Tuesday.
Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso informed local radio that the suspected shooter successfully brought a .45-caliber pistol into a classroom at the school.
Olaso stated that the suspect initially fired at a teacher seated at a table, but missed. The suspect then proceeded to another classroom and shot a student, who later succumbed to their injuries.
Local media circulated alleged livestream footage of the shooting, which AFP News Agency reported appeared to be from a first-person perspective, showing a gun barrel moving through a hallway. Authorities confirmed the situation was under control and there were no longer any active shooters.
This incident follows a high school shooting two months prior in Tacloban City in the central region, which resulted in the deaths of three students and injuries to 20 others. The suspects in that shooting were two teenage boys, one of whom was discovered to have regularly played an explicitly violent online game. The sandbox game, Gorebox, has since been banned in the Philippines, and the Senate is currently investigating the impact of violent computer games on young individuals.
Across Southeast Asia, authorities are considering restrictions on social media use for minors, citing potential negative effects. Earlier this month, a Thai teenager killed eight people and himself at his school, with authorities stating he had consumed violent content on social media.