A student at a Catholic high school in the Philippines livestreamed the shooting of a schoolmate before taking his own life, authorities said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, a private Catholic institution in Zamboanga City, western Mindanao, marking the country’s second school shooting in two months.
Regional police spokeswoman Shella Chang said the suspect entered the classroom of the victim, shot the student and later went to the fifth floor of the school building, where he fatally shot himself.
Interior Secretary Victor Remulla confirmed that the ninth-grade suspect had livestreamed the incident on social media. The Facebook account used to broadcast the attack has since been disabled.
Footage circulated by local media showed the barrel of a firearm moving through a school hallway in a manner resembling a first-person shooter video game before the weapon was pointed into a classroom and fired.
Students in school uniforms could then be seen screaming and fleeing the classroom.
Authorities had not immediately disclosed whether anyone else was injured or released the ages of the two students involved.
Police are investigating the motive behind the shooting, as well as the ownership and source of the firearm and how it was brought onto the school campus, the Interior Ministry said.
Ateneo de Zamboanga president Father Guillrey Andal confirmed the two deaths and said the school was cooperating fully with investigators.
The incident has caused widespread concern among students, staff and parents, particularly following a deadly school attack elsewhere in the Philippines in June, when three teenage students were killed and 20 others injured.
Ateneo de Zamboanga was among schools that conducted active-shooter drills last month following that attack.
School shootings remain relatively rare in the Philippines, where legal firearm ownership is tightly regulated. However, authorities continue to face challenges posed by the country’s illegal firearms market.
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