Two killed as gunman opens fire at Philippines high school, official says

What the report says

A shooting at a high school attached to Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga, in the southern Philippines, left two people dead on Tuesday, according to local officials cited by Al Jazeera. Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso said the casualties were both students and that the gunman was among the dead. University president Ernald Andal later said there were no additional fatalities or reported injuries and that the campus was no longer under active threat.

Regional police said the suspect was a ninth-grade student who brought a pistol and a rifle onto the campus and fired inside a classroom. Police said the victim was a male student one grade above the alleged shooter. Officials said the motive had not yet been established and that investigators were processing the scene.

The school said it was coordinating with parents and guardians to collect children still on campus and had secured those remaining inside. A video circulating on local media appeared to show the shooting as being livestreamed on Facebook, though Al Jazeera noted the social media account associated with the alleged shooter had since been disabled.

School shootings are uncommon in the Philippines, where gun ownership is regulated, but illegal firearms remain a concern. The incident comes after another fatal school shooting in the country in June, which killed at least three students in Tacloban City.