Two students were killed and two others wounded in a shooting at a high school in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, with authorities saying the suspected gunman was among the dead.
The attack occurred at a school affiliated with the privately operated Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City, marking the country’s second deadly school shooting in less than two months.
According to a preliminary police report, a Grade 9 student entered the campus carrying a pistol and a rifle and opened fire on students inside a classroom.
A male Grade 10 student was killed, while two other people were wounded. Police said the suspected shooter subsequently died by suicide. Authorities said the situation at the school had been brought under control.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered law enforcement agencies to investigate the attack and identify measures that could help prevent further violence in schools.
“Our schools are where we entrust our children to learn, to grow and to dream about the lives ahead of them,” Marcos said, stressing that educational institutions must be among the country’s safest places.
The shooting follows another deadly attack in Tacloban City in June, when at least three students were killed and around 20 others injured after two fellow students opened fire at a public high school.
School shootings remain relatively rare in the Philippines, where legal gun ownership is subject to measures including background checks and psychological evaluations, although illegal firearms continue to circulate.
Television footage following Tuesday’s attack showed students and parents gathered outside the school, while armed police, soldiers and crime-scene investigators responded to the incident.
The shooting also comes less than 10 days after a separate school shooting near Bangkok, Thailand, adding to recent concerns over violence at educational institutions in the region.