Two students and a 16-year-old suspected gunman died in a shooting at a school in Banga town, South Cotabato, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, on Friday, according to provincial officials. Eight other people were injured, four of them in critical condition, and all the victims were students aged 14 to 17, Banga mayor Albert Palencia told Reuters. Officials said the suspect, a student at the school, opened fire on students in a classroom next to his own after lunch before shooting himself. Euronews reported the dead students were both 14 years old and that South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo said they were a boy and a girl; Euronews also named the school as Banga National High School. Officials said the suspect had told friends after lunch that he was going to do something and urged them to go home, but they took it as a joke.
Three killed, eight injured in school shooting in Banga, southern Philippines
Two students and a 16-year-old suspected gunman died in a shooting at a school in Banga town, South Cotabato, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, on Friday, according to provincial officials. Eight other people were injured, four of them in critical condition, and all the victims were students aged 14 to 17, Banga mayor Albert Palencia told Reuters. Officials said the suspect, a student at the school, opened fire on students in a classroom next to his own after lunch before shooting himself. Euronews reported the dead students were both 14 years old and that South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo said they were a boy and a girl; Euronews also named the school as Banga National High School. Officials said the suspect had told friends after lunch that he was going to do something and urged them to go home, but they took it as a joke.
Mayor Albert Palencia said the suspect sat with friends and told them to go home because he would carry out his plan after lunch, and that the friends laughed because he was known as a joker, according to Reuters. Palencia said the attacker then shot 10 students before killing himself, and that he appeared to have fired indiscriminately at students in a classroom next to his own after leaving his Grade 9 class, in a separate interview with DZBB radio reported by CBC News.
Palencia said the suspect used a 9mm pistol belonging to his father, a Department of Education employee, after breaking into a vault where the firearm had been kept, according to CBC News. Euronews reported the weapon, believed to be a 9mm gun, reportedly belonged to the shooter's father and had been stored in a locked vault.
The Banga mayor told local media that police found posts made by the shooter in an online community where young people involved in school shootings are idolized, and, quoting the boy's school adviser, said the boy's mother had wanted to bring him to a psychiatrist, according to Euronews.
Governor Reynaldo Tamayo urged parents to keep guns out of the reach of minors, saying gun owners in particular must ensure minors cannot access them, and that a small number of security personnel cannot monitor thousands of students, according to Reuters. Al Jazeera reported Tamayo as saying authorities were trying to let citizens know the situation was stable and the case contained, and quoting him as saying they never thought this would happen. Al Jazeera attributed the remarks about responsible firearm storage and the limits of security staffing to the mayor rather than the governor.
The shooting is the third deadly school incident in the Philippines since June, a period in which such attacks were previously rare. In August, a student livestreamed himself shooting and killing another student in a classroom in Zamboanga, in the country's south, before taking his own life. In June, at least three students were killed and about 20 others injured at a public high school in Tacloban, in the central Philippines, when two classmates opened fire on campus.
The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements, although illegal firearms remain in circulation. Al Jazeera reported that nationwide shooter drills had recently been conducted to strengthen school security, and The Jerusalem Post noted a high-profile school shooting in Thailand in August in which a student went on a rampage at a school outside Bangkok. This is a developing story, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Where sources differ
- Al Jazeera reports it was not immediately clear how many attackers were involved and that a teacher was heard in a video circulating on social media saying there were two attackers; Euronews, CBC News and The Jerusalem Post describe a single gunman who shot himself.
- CBC News and The Jerusalem Post attribute the remarks urging responsible firearm storage and noting that a handful of security personnel cannot monitor thousands of students to Governor Reynaldo Tamayo, told to Reuters by phone; Al Jazeera attributes those same remarks to the mayor.
- CBC News reports the suspect broke into a vault to obtain the firearm; Euronews reports the weapon was stored in a locked vault but does not state who accessed it, while Al Jazeera does not mention a vault.
- Euronews reports the two students killed were both 14 years old, while CBC News, Al Jazeera and The Jerusalem Post say all victims were students aged 14 to 17 without specifying the ages of the two who died.
- Al Jazeera describes the toll as at least three killed and several injured, while CBC News, Euronews and The Jerusalem Post report eight injured, with four in critical condition, according to officials and the Banga mayor.
- Euronews attributes the detail that the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the governor and other officials, while Al Jazeera reports the governor said the suspect shot himself and that the mayor later reported the attacker had died, according to Reuters.
- No source establishes a confirmed motive for the attack.
- No source establishes how the suspect obtained the firearm beyond competing accounts about a vault; no forensic or police confirmation of the weapon's ownership or chain of custody is provided.
- The identity, age or grade of the two students killed is not established beyond Euronews reporting both were 14 and the governor saying they were a boy and a girl.
- The number of attackers is unresolved: Al Jazeera notes a teacher's account of two attackers in a circulating video and says it was not immediately clear how many were involved, while other sources describe one gunman and do not report any follow-up verification.
- The current condition of the eight injured, including the four reported in critical condition, is not updated in any source.
- No source establishes whether the online community posts cited by the mayor were verified by police or what they contained.
- No source establishes whether the claim that the boy's mother sought psychiatric care was confirmed by the family or any medical professional.
- No source reports comment from the suspect's father, the suspect's family, the school administration, the Philippine Department of Education, or national police, nor any response to the accounts given by the governor and mayor.
- No source states whether authorities have opened a formal investigation, filed charges, or taken custody or disciplinary action against the firearm owner.
- Euronews — original — by Harry Bligh
- CBC News
- Al Jazeera English
- The Jerusalem Post — by REUTERS