MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A shooting at a high school in the southern Philippines on Friday left two 14-year-old students and the teenage gunman dead and wounded at least eight people, local government and police officials said.
The shooting at Banga National High School in the South Cotabato town of Banga is under investigation, the Philippine National Police said in a statement. Police officers secured the campus and coordinated with school officials and medical responders, the statement said.
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South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo said the two students killed were a boy and a girl, both 14. He said the gunman also shot himself and died.
Banga Mayor Albert Palencia told DZBB radio that the gunman hit 10 students in the classroom next to his, two of whom died while eight were wounded. A person who was hyperventilating was also brought to a hospital, according to the governor.
Tamayo said the gunman’s best friend told officials that the teenager was a member of an online “true crimes community.” Authorities were investigating the account and whether it had any connection to the shooting, he said.
Mayor Palencia said the 16-year-old gunman told his friends to go home after lunch because “he was going to do something” and they might get involved. He said the shooter’s classmates thought it was a joke.
After lunch, the gunman started shooting students in the classroom next to his, hitting 10 of them. He then changed the magazine of his 9 mm gun and shot himself, Palencia added.
He said the gun belonged to the shooter’s father, a Department of Education employee, who hid the weapon in a vault, which was destroyed by his son.
Police found posts made by the shooter in the online community, where young people involved in school shootings are idolized, Palencia added.
Quoting the gunman’s school adviser, Palencia said the mother of the boy wanted to bring him to a psychiatrist.
