Student kills classmate and himself in livestreamed attack at Philippine university

Student kills classmate and himself in livestreamed Philippine school attack

A high school student armed with two pistols killed a classmate before taking his own life Tuesday in a gun attack at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in southern Philippines that he livestreamed using a body-worn camera. Two others were injured in the incident that prompted the evacuation of hundreds of students from the century-old Jesuit institution.

The suspect, identified by police as grade 9 student Mohammad Mael Jalani, opened fire on the campus in Zamboanga city, first shooting at a teacher but missing. He then fatally shot a student on the fourth floor of the high school building before ascending to the fifth floor, where he jumped to his death, according to police reports.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla told reporters the attacker "entered and started indiscriminately firing, hitting a Grade 10 student at the fourth floor then subsequently went to the fifth floor and jumped from the said building and committed suicide." The assault was partially broadcast on Facebook Live, showing snippets of the suspect climbing stairs before the attack.

Remulla indicated investigators would examine the suspect's gaming history and chat records to determine a motive. "We'll look into his gaming history and his chat history so we cannot come up with a complete answer why this happened until we do a complete forensic analysis," he said.

The attack occurred in the high school building on the secured campus of Ateneo de Zamboanga, founded in 1912 by Spanish Jesuits as the second-oldest Jesuit school in the Philippines. The facility operates separately from the university's larger campus housing its colleges and professional schools.

Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso confirmed the situation was brought under control within hours. Police Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. appealed to the public to "refrain from sharing unconfirmed reports, photos, or videos that may cause unnecessary concern" while authorities continued their investigation.

Second deadly shooting in two months

The incident marks the second fatal school shooting in the Philippines in just two months, following a June attack in Tacloban city that killed three students and wounded at least 20 others. Police arrested two students, ages 14 and 15, in connection with that shooting. A Senate investigation later revealed the Tacloban incident had connections to the online terrorist organization 764, known for nihilistic violent extremism.

The Tacloban shooting triggered a wave of violence across Philippine schools. Between June 23 and July 6, at least 12 other incidents involving bomb threats, riots, stabbings, and recovery of firearms were recorded at schools nationwide. The Department of Education responded by conducting a nationwide school safety audit covering 48,000 schools.

Following the Tacloban attack, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center temporarily blocked the online gaming app GoreBox to assess whether it played a role in fostering violence. The physics-driven sandbox game, which allows players to experiment with various weapons and features graphic depictions of violence, was officially removed from Google Play Store and Steam in the Philippines on June 30. The game was rendered unresponsive beyond its loading screen for users who had already installed it.

Gun proliferation challenges enforcement

While crimes involving firearms are prevalent in the Philippines due to widespread proliferation of unlicensed weapons, school shootings remain relatively rare. Data shows Filipinos owned an estimated 3.9 million firearms in 2014, with approximately 2.1 million being illegal or unlicensed. Nearly 99% of guns used in crimes are loose firearms.

More recent figures reveal the scale of the enforcement challenge. As of February 2024, there were 703,703 firearms with expired registrations in the Philippines. From 2015 to 2023, only 165,936 illegal firearms were confiscated, representing just 8% of the estimated total of unlicensed firearms.

Regional pattern of school violence

The Philippines shooting occurred less than two weeks after a school attack in Thailand that killed eight people. On August 7, a 14-year-old student at Debsirin Nonthaburi School killed his two grandparents before shooting dead five school staff members and a 12-year-old student. The shooter fired at least 26 rounds before taking his own life. The attack was Thailand's deadliest mass killing since the 2022 Nong Bua Lamphu massacre, which claimed 38 lives.

In response to the Nonthaburi shooting, Thailand's government suspended issuances of new gun licenses. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul pledged to implement tougher gun laws in the country, which has the second-highest rate of gun ownership in Asia after Pakistan. UNICEF called for better mental health services for children following the incident.

Philippine authorities had promised to strengthen security in schools across the country after the Tacloban shooting, but Tuesday's attack has renewed questions about the effectiveness of those measures and the need for comprehensive gun control reforms.