A student at a Catholic junior high school in the southern Philippines was shot dead by another student who later died by suicide, a local official said on Tuesday.
Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso said the suspected shooter managed to bring a 45 calibre pistol into a classroom at the school.
According to the mayor, the suspect initially fired at a teacher who was seated at a table but missed. The student then moved to another classroom, where a student was shot and later died.
Local media circulated footage allegedly showing the shooting from a first person perspective, with a gun barrel visible as the person holding it moved through a school hallway.
Authorities said the situation was brought under control and that there were no remaining active shooters.
The incident comes about two months after another school shooting in Tacloban City, where three students were killed and 20 others injured. Two teenage boys were identified as suspects in that attack.
The earlier shooting prompted renewed scrutiny of violent online content involving young people. One of the suspects was reported to have regularly played the explicitly violent video game Gorebox, which has since been banned in the Philippines.
The Philippine Senate is investigating the potential effects of violent video games on young people as authorities across Southeast Asia consider tighter restrictions on children’s access to social media and other online content.
Earlier this month, a teenage boy in Thailand reportedly killed eight people before taking his own life at a school. Authorities said the teenager had consumed violent content on social media.
The latest shooting is likely to intensify concerns over school safety, access to firearms and the influence of violent online content on young people in the region.
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