Key Points
- Two others reportedly injured in Zamboanga shooting
- Grade 9 student opened fire inside classroom
- Attack is Philippines’ second fatal school shooting since June
ISLAMABAD: Two students were killed, including the suspected gunman, after a shooting at a school affiliated with Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, officials said.
The confirmed fatalities were the Grade 9 student who opened fire and a male Grade 10 student who was shot inside the school, according to Zamboanga Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso and the university. The gunman later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two other people were reported injured, although casualty figures were still being verified.
Preliminary police information indicated that the gunman entered the campus carrying a high-powered firearm and a .45-calibre pistol. He first fired at a teacher but missed before moving to another classroom and shooting the student who later died.
READ ALSO: School Shooting Kills at Least Nine in Canada
The university said the situation was under control and there was no longer an active shooter on campus. Hundreds of students were evacuated as police and security personnel secured the area. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr condemned the attack and ordered authorities to conduct a full investigation.
Philippine’s second shooting in two months
The shooting came less than two months after a more deadly attack at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City on June 22.
Two students opened fire, killing three students and injuring at least seven, according to police. Other reports put the number of injured at more than 20, including people hurt as they fled. The suspects, aged 14 and 15, were arrested.
The two attacks have shaken a Philippine where school shootings are considered rare.
Following the Tacloban shooting, authorities began reviewing school security and emergency-response procedures. Philippinese officials are also examining the role of firearms and possible online influences on young people.
The Philippines is not alone in facing renewed concern over violence in schools. Thailand suffered its deadliest school shooting since 2022 earlier this month when a 14-year-old opened fire at a school near Bangkok after killing his grandparents. Five teachers and school officials were killed and 23 people were wounded before the gunman took his own life.
The attack prompted the Thai government to suspend the issuance of new firearm purchase permits and order reviews of existing licences.
Europe has also experienced a series of high-profile school shootings in recent years, although such attacks remain far less common than in the United States. In June 2025, a gunman killed 10 people at a secondary school in Graz, Austria, in the country’s worst school shooting in modern history.
Earlier that year, a gunman killed 10 people at a school in Örebro, Sweden. The attacks intensified debate over gun access and school security across Europe.
Turkey has faced similar concerns. In April this year, a 14-year-old student killed at least nine people at a middle school in southeastern Turkey, in the country’s second school shooting in two days.
The United States remains the global outlier in the frequency and scale of school and campus shootings. The country continues to record far more such incidents than other wealthy nations, with gun access and the balance between firearm rights and public safety remaining deeply contested issues.
A recent shooting at Virginia State University injured five people and placed the campus under lockdown, underscoring that the problem extends beyond primary and secondary schools.
For the Philippines, however, the immediate concern is more local: two deadly school shootings in rapid succession have challenged the assumption that such attacks are an uncommon threat. The latest incident is likely to renew scrutiny of how students obtain firearms, how schools detect threats and how quickly authorities can respond when violence erupts inside a classroom.
