High School Shooting Leaves Multiple Students Dead

A horrifying school shooting in the central Philippines left three students dead and seven others injured after two teenage classmates allegedly launched an attack authorities believe may have been fueled by bullying.

The violence erupted around 9 a.m. Monday, June 22, at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, sending students and teachers scrambling for cover as gunfire rang out inside the campus.

According to the Tacloban City Police Office, officers rushed to the school after receiving a report of an active shooting involving students. When authorities arrived, they secured the area and helped rush the wounded victims to nearby hospitals.

Police later confirmed that all of the victims were minors. Three students were pronounced dead at the hospital.

Two teenage suspects, identified by police only by the aliases “Rod” and “Nash,” were taken into custody. Regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy said the boys are 14 and 15 years old and are both students at the school.

The attack reportedly unfolded in terrifying fashion as students were sitting in class.

Social studies teacher Irvin Nogar, 52, told Agence France-Presse that he was teaching when he suddenly heard “loud gun shots.”

“I saw a shooter walking towards our area, so I told the students to be calm and hide under their desks and I locked the door,” Nogar said, according to France24. “They were crying and in panic.”

Police said the suspects entered two classrooms during the attack.

“The suspects barged into two rooms because after the shooting in the first, the children scampered and the suspects apparently ran after some victims into another room,” Capoy told reporters, according to the Associated Press.

One suspect was arrested at the school, while the second allegedly fled to a nearby house. Residents alerted authorities, and police later took him into custody.

Investigators now believe the deadly rampage may have been tied to a personal grudge.

Police said the shooting could have “stemmed from a personal grudge allegedly rooted in school bullying,” though officials stressed that the investigation remains ongoing.

Authorities recovered two firearms from the scene. The weapons will undergo forensic examination as investigators work to determine exactly how the students obtained them and what led to the deadly attack.

“This tragic incident involving minors is deeply distressing,” TCPO city director Noelito A. Getigan said in a statement. “We assure the public that a thorough and impartial investigation is underway to establish the truth and ensure accountability while observing applicable laws, especially those protecting minors.”

The country’s Department of Education also condemned the violence and said officials are working with government agencies to provide medical assistance and psychosocial support to students and families affected by the shooting.

“We strongly condemn this act of violence and extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, as well as our earnest prayers for the swift recovery of those who were injured,” the department said. “The Central Office is now mobilizing assistance to our affected learners.”

School shootings are rare in the Philippines, making Monday’s bloodshed especially shocking. However, targeted gun violence has occurred in the country before.

In 2022, a former city mayor and two others were killed in a shooting before a graduation ceremony at Ateneo de Manila University. Investigators later said that attack was driven by personal motives.

Now, a stunned school community in Tacloban City is grieving three young lives lost inside a place where children were supposed to be safe.