Three killed in rare Philippine school shooting

MANILA: At least three people were killed and five others injured on Monday in a rare school shooting incident in the central Philippines, police said.

Police have yet to establish a motive for the shooting, which took place at around 9 am (0100 GMT) at San Jose National High School in Leyte province’s Tacloban City.

“The victims were immediately transported to nearby medical facilities for treatment and appropriate medical intervention,” regional police said in a statement.

Government broadcaster PTV reported that two people — both reportedly students — had been arrested, with one apprehended at the scene.

“The PNP has already caught the suspects. They acted quickly,” presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro told reporters.

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While school shootings are a rarity in the Philippines, targeted gun violence is a fixture of provincial politics.

In 2022, three people, including a former city mayor, were killed in a shooting incident before a graduation ceremony at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippine capital.

It was later determined to have been an assassination driven by “personal motives”.

Legal gun ownership is tightly regulated in the Southeast Asian country, but a large black market exists for firearms.