A shooting at a Catholic junior high school in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines has left two people dead, including the shooter. Officials said the situation is now under control.
A shooting incident at a school affiliated with Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City resulted in two fatalities on Tuesday, August 18. According to Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso, both victims were students, and one of the deceased was identified as the shooter who wielded a high-powered firearm. The mayor described the sequence of events based on video evidence, noting that the gunman initially fired at a teacher seated in a classroom before moving to another area where he shot another student.
Footage circulated by local media showed the incident being live-streamed on Facebook, depicting a first-person perspective of someone moving through school hallways before opening fire in a classroom. Students in uniforms were seen screaming and evacuating the premises. University president Ernald Andal confirmed that no active shooting situation remained and that there were no additional casualties, though reports indicated two other individuals may have been injured. The alleged shooter's Facebook account has since been disabled by the platform.
School authorities emphasized that student safety was their primary concern and stated they had coordinated with parents to retrieve their children. The campus was secured by police forces following the incident. Notably, Ateneo de Zamboanga had conducted an active shooter drill just one month prior to this event. This marks the second major school shooting in the Philippines in nearly two months, following a June incident in Tacloban City where at least three students were killed and approximately 20 others wounded.
Gun ownership in the Philippines is subject to strict legal regulations, though an active black market for firearms persists in the country. The incident occurred less than two weeks after a similar school shooting rampage in Thailand.
