Two students were killed in a shooting at a high school in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, including the student who carried out the attack, officials said. Authorities reported that the situation was under control.
The shooting occurred at a school affiliated with the privately operated Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga city. According to an initial police report, the gunman, a Grade 9 student, brought a pistol and a rifle onto the campus and opened fire inside a classroom.
Police said the gunman later took his own life. The other victim was a male student one grade above him.
University president Ernald Andal confirmed that there was no longer an active threat and said no further deaths or injuries had been reported.
“We do not want any of these things to happen. We wish to prioritise the safety of all our students,” Andal said.
The incident comes less than two months after another school shooting in the Philippines. In June, two students opened fire at a public high school in Tacloban City, killing at least three students and injuring around 20 others.
School shootings are uncommon in the Philippines, which has relatively strict regulations governing firearm ownership, including background checks and psychological assessments. However, illegal weapons continue to circulate in the country.
Footage broadcast by news channel ANC showed students and parents gathered outside the school, while armed police and soldiers were deployed at the scene. Crime scene investigators were also seen arriving at the campus.
The school occupies an eight-hectare site and is housed in a five-storey building that serves grade school and junior high school students, according to its website.
The shooting occurred less than 10 days after a separate school shooting in Thailand, where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school outside Bangkok.
