E-Paper
Sign In
Two killed in high school shooting in southern Philippines, officials say
A seventh-grader carrying a firearm shot another student before taking his own life, the mayor said
- PUBLISHED: Tue 18 Aug 2026, 7:09 AM UPDATED: Tue 18 Aug 2026, 8:59 AM
Two students were killed in a shooting at a high school in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, one of them the gunman, and the situation was now under control, officials said, in the second such incident in the country in less than two months.
The shooting took place at a school attached to the privately-run Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the city of Zamboanga, where the gunman brought a pistol and a rifle onto the school campus and fired at students inside the classroom, according to a preliminary police report.
Recommended For You
The gunman, a grade 9 student, killed himself. The victim was a male student a grade above him, police said.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
The university's president Ernald Andal confirmed there was no longer an active shooting and there were no additional fatalities or reported injuries.
"As of now, we confirm that there are two fatalities," Andal said. "There are no more active shooters."
Andal said the university was coordinating with authorities and would provide more details as information became available. "We do not want any of these things to happen. We wish to prioritise the safety of all our students," Andal said.
The shooter live-streamed the incident on his social media account. "In the video, we see that he first shot at the teacher who was sitting at a table. It seems he missed, then moved to another room... he shot another student there, the one who fell," Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso said.
Police Regional Office 9 information officer Shellami Chang told local reporters police investigators are already on site to help secure the premises and conduct initial investigations.
News channel ANC showed footage of students and parents gathering outside the school gates with some armed police and soldiers present. Crime scene investigators were seen arriving at the school.
The school is a five-storey building on an 8-hectare (19.8 acre) site that houses the university's grade school and junior high school students, according to its website.
The shooting came less than 10 days after a high-profile incident in Thailand, where a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of the capital Bangkok.
The shooting followed an attack in June at a public high school in Tacloban City in which at least three students were killed and about 20 others injured when two of their schoolmates opened fire on campus.
School shootings are rare in the Philippines, which has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements, although illegal firearms remain in circulation.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a review of safety protocols in all schools across the Philippines. The second deadly school shooting in the country, however, happened mere 57 days after the first.
[With inputs from Raymund Villanueva]