Two students killed in Philippine school shooting and teen suspect dead, officials say

Philippine Red Cross/Reuters

Three students were killed in a school shooting in the southern Philippines on Friday, including a 16-year-old suspected gunman who turned the gun on himself, provincial officials said.

Eight others were injured, with four in critical condition, and all the victims were students aged 14 to 17, said Albert Palencia, mayor of Banga town in South Cotabato, where the shooting took place.

The incident follows two fatal gun incidents since June at schools in the Philippines, where school shootings were previously rare.

“The suspect supposedly sat beside his friends and told them to go home ‘because after lunch, I will be executing my plan’. His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker,” Palencia told Reuters.

“After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself,” Palencia added.

Last month, a student live-streamed himself shooting and killing another student in a classroom in Zamboanga in the country’s south before taking ‌his own life.

In June, at least three students were killed and about 20 others injured in an attack at a public high school in Tacloban, where two classmates opened fire on campus.

The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements, although illegal firearms remain in circulation.

The Friday shooting also follows a high-profile incident in Thailand in August, where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of the capital Bangkok.

South Cotabato governor Reynaldo Tamayo urged parents to ensure guns were kept out of reach of minors.

“We need to be responsible in storing firearms. Gun owners, in particular, must make sure that minors do not have access to them,” Tamayo told Reuters by phone.

“We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students. We need to work together because otherwise this will be very difficult for us to address.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

菲律宾红十字会/路透社

菲律宾南部一所学校周五发生枪击案，造成三名学生死亡，其中包括一名 16 岁的嫌疑枪手，该枪手随后自杀身亡，省政府官员表示。

南哥打巴托省邦加镇镇长阿尔伯特·帕伦西亚表示，另有八人受伤，其中四人伤势危重，所有受害者都是14至17岁的学生。枪击事件就发生在邦加镇。

自6月以来，菲律宾学校已发生两起致命枪击事件，而此前菲律宾校园枪击事件较为罕见。

帕伦西亚告诉路透社：“嫌疑人据称坐在朋友旁边，告诉他们‘午饭后，我就要执行我的计划’，让他们回家。他的朋友们都笑了，因为枪手是个出了名的爱开玩笑的人。”

帕伦西亚补充说：“午饭后，他开始向学生开枪。他击中了10名学生后自杀身亡。”

上个月，一名学生在菲律宾南部三宝颜市的一间教室里，通过直播枪杀了另一名学生，然后自杀身亡。

6 月，塔克洛班一所公立高中发生袭击事件，两名同学在校园内开枪，造成至少 3 名学生死亡，约 20 人受伤。

菲律宾对枪支拥有权有相对严格的规定，包括背景调查和心理评估要求，但非法枪支仍然在流通。

周五发生的这起枪击事件也与8月份泰国发生的一起备受瞩目的事件有关，当时一名学生在首都曼谷郊区的一所学校里疯狂扫射。

南哥打巴托省省长雷纳尔多·塔马约敦促家长确保未成年人无法接触到枪支。

“我们需要负责任地存放枪支。特别是枪支拥有者，必须确保未成年人无法接触到枪支，”塔马约在电话中告诉路透社。

“我们不能指望少数保安人员来监控成千上万的学生。我们需要共同努力，否则我们将很难解决这个问题。”

这是一则正在更新的新闻。