MANILA, Philippines — Two students armed with handguns opened fire in a high school in the central Philippines on Monday, killing three fellow students and wounding at least 20 others, police said.
The suspects, ages 14 and 15, were arrested. The suspects and the victims were students at San Jose National High School in Tacloban city, where the midmorning shooting happened, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy said.
Police said 15 of the 20 injuries were caused by gunshots, including a student who was hit in the head and remained in a hospital. The rest were injured as they stumbled and jumped out of a window as they dashed to safety.
An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the shooting in the government-run school, which has more than 1,500 students. Capoy said that the suspects, who were close friends, said in initial questioning that they were bullied in school. He did not elaborate.
They have no criminal records. One of the suspects got the 9 mm pistol he used in the attack from an aunt, a police officer, who was being investigated. The other suspect used a .38-caliber revolver. They managed to bring the guns onto the campus because there was only one guard on duty at multiple entrances and exits, Capoy said.
“The suspects barged into two rooms because after the shooting in the first, the children scampered and the suspects apparently ran after some victims into another room,” Capoy told reporters.
Most of the dead and wounded were female students, he said. Police recovered at least 40 shell casings at the scene of the attack.
In a video posted online, students hiding under desks in a shut classroom can be heard screaming and weeping as gunshots are heard outside. Some called their mothers. Other videos show visibly terrified students streaming out of the school campus, some holding and embracing each other.
One of the suspects was arrested in the school after the attack but the second fled and hid in a house nearby. He was found by police who were alerted by residents, police said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a thorough investigation of the shooting and asked law enforcers to boost security in all schools, workplaces and public areas, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said.
“The president was saddened by this incident. Anybody, especially the parents of the victims, will feel sad and terrified,” Castro said.
The suspects were to be turned over to government welfare officers after the investigation since they are minors. The 14-year-old would be exempt from criminal prosecution under a 2006 Philippine law, which sets the minimum age of 15 for a minor to be criminally liable and only if authorities determine that a suspect was clearly aware of the crime that was committed and its repercussions.
The national police have urged the public to remain calm and cooperate with authorities by providing any information that may aid the ongoing investigation.
Crimes involving the use of firearms are prevalent in the Philippines, 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.
