Authorities are investigating how the ninth-grade student obtained firearms and brought them onto the Ateneo de Zamboanga campus.
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — A ninth-grade student shot and killed a fellow student Tuesday at a high school in the southern Philippines before dying, authorities said, in an attack that was livestreamed on social media through a body-worn camera.
The Aug. 18 shooting at a school affiliated with Ateneo de Zamboanga University left the suspected attacker and a 10th-grade student dead. Two other people were wounded, according to police and officials. Several students also received treatment for injuries suffered as people rushed to escape the building. Authorities said the motive remained under investigation.
Police identified the suspected attacker as ninth-grade student Mohammad Mael Jalani. An initial police report said he fired at a teacher but apparently missed before shooting a student on the fourth floor. Authorities said Jalani later went to the fifth floor, where he died. Police and city officials said the death was self-inflicted.
Officials said the attack was broadcast on Facebook using a body-worn camera. Zamboanga Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso confirmed the livestream, while Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said investigators planned to examine the student’s online activity as they worked to determine what led to the shooting. Reuters separately verified video showing the attacker entering classrooms and firing. The video circulated online after the attack, but authorities urged the public not to spread unverified images or reports.
Investigators are also examining how the student obtained the firearms and carried them onto a secured school campus. Reuters reported, citing a senior customs official, that one weapon was a .40-caliber pistol issued by the Bureau of Customs to the student’s father, who worked for the agency. A second recovered firearm was also licensed to the father, the official said. The father was relieved from his post as authorities examined whether the weapons had been properly secured.
The Associated Press reported that Bureau of Customs Deputy Commissioner Nolasco Bathan recommended the father’s temporary suspension and said he could face administrative action over the handling of a government-issued pistol. Authorities have not announced a final finding on responsibility for the student’s access to the weapons. Investigators also had not publicly established a motive for the attack as of Tuesday.
Hundreds of students were evacuated after gunfire was reported inside the junior high school building. Police and security personnel secured the campus while parents and guardians waited for instructions on collecting students. National police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said authorities were working to establish the circumstances surrounding the shooting and asked the public to rely on verified information.
Ateneo de Zamboanga University suspended classes at all levels Tuesday and Wednesday following the attack. The high school building is on a secured campus separate from the university’s larger campus for college and professional programs. The shooting raised fresh questions about campus security because it came only about two months after another deadly school shooting in the Philippines.
In June, three high school students were killed and at least 20 other people were wounded in a shooting at a public school in Tacloban City, according to authorities. Police arrested two students, ages 14 and 15, in connection with that attack. School shootings remain relatively rare in the Philippines, though officials have long faced concerns about illegal firearms and access to licensed weapons.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered law enforcement agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into the Zamboanga attack and determine what measures could help prevent further violence in schools. Authorities said the immediate threat at the campus was under control, while investigators continued examining the suspect’s firearms access, online activity and possible motive.