TACLOBAN, Philippines: Two teens who allegedly killed three fellow students in a rare Philippine school shooting planned the attack in advance, police said Tuesday (Jun 23), revealing one had trained at a firing range.
Determining a motive, however, remained a work in progress, with bullying cited as a factor but national police suggesting “online influences” had also played a role.
Classes were cancelled across the shaken city of Tacloban, where police said 15 students from San Jose National High School were being treated for gunshot wounds, more than double the number revealed after Monday’s shooting.
One was in critical condition due to severe wounds suffered in the attack.
“His condition is under strict observation, but we were told he is fighting for his life,” Tacloban police spokeswoman Evalyn Diaz told AFP.
Both alleged shooters, aged 15 and 14, are in custody after the mass shooting in central Leyte province that saw terrified students screaming and crying as they hid beneath desks.
“All indications point to the fact that it was planned,” national police spokesman Allen Rae Co told a Tuesday afternoon press briefing, adding the two boys had huddled in the restroom for more than an hour the morning of the shooting.
Bullying has been widely cited as the motivating force, a theory Diaz said the investigation seemed to support.
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