Three students were killed and several injured when two teenagers opened fire at a high school in Tacloban City, central Philippines. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
Police said the suspects, aged 14 and 15, were motivated by a "grudge" over bullying. One was arrested soon after the shooting at San Jose National High School, while the second later surrendered.
The suspects were armed with a .38 revolver and a 9mm pistol, the latter belonging to a policewoman who is a relative of one suspect and is now in custody.
Gun violence is not uncommon in the Philippines, but school shootings are extremely rare.
National police spokesperson Colonel Allen Rae Co told reporters that "red flags" in the teens' behaviour had been missed, along with the opportunity to prevent the crime.
"The two [suspects] went straight to the classroom. Without saying anything, they started firing," Co said. "Initially, it appears that the motive of the crime is grudge for school bullying." He said it was unclear at this stage whether the intended targets were in that classroom.
About 40 empty shells were recovered from the scene. Along with the three deaths, three people were injured by gunshots, and four were wounded in their "panic" to get away.
Investigators found violent videos of one teen firing a gun on his social media, Co alleged. "So this is very obviously red flags... we're not putting blame on anybody, but if anybody was able to monitor these red flags, this could have been prevented."
The mother of a slain 15-year-old student, Jennelyn Badoria, told Agence France-Presse that whoever allowed the shooters access to guns must be held accountable. "I'm asking that the gun owners be charged, because the guns wouldn't have ended up in the children's hands if it weren't for them," she said outside the school.
This is the first school shooting in Tacloban City in recent memory, said Evalyn Diaz from the city police. "We call on parents who have firearms to be more responsible, hide their firearms, make sure those are properly hidden, talk to their children," Diaz said.
President Ferdinand Marcos's spokeswoman Claire Castro said on Monday the president had been "saddened by what happened". "Anyone, especially the parents of the victims, would feel grief and fear," she told reporters.
The education ministry expressed "deep concern" over the incident. "We call on everyone to join us in praying for the safety, healing and recovery of those affected by this incident," it said in a statement. Together with police, it announced a review of school security protocols, bullying policies, and student behavioural monitoring systems.
Police data show gun violence has been steadily declining in recent years. In 2024, the Philippine National Police recorded close to 5,000 gun violence cases nationwide.
Tacloban City, about an hour by plane from Manila, is home to 250,000 people. Located on Leyte Island in the Visayas region, the city was among the worst-hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which killed 6,000 and plunged many in the region into deeper poverty.