A 16-year-old student shot dead two fellow students, then killed himself, at Banga National High School in South Cotabato province, Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, on Friday (18th September). Local rescuers received a call about gunfire on campus at about 1:30 pm. Eight others were injured, with four in critical condition, and all the victims were students aged 14–17, said Albert Palencia, mayor of Banga town.
One male and one female student, both in Grade 9, were killed, said Rizalie Dedel, a disaster agency worker. The suspect was also a Grade 9 student at the school and a classmate of the victims.
“The suspect supposedly sat beside his friends and told them to go home ‘because after lunch, I will be executing my plan’. His friends laughed because the shooter was a known joker,” Palencia told Reuters. “After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself,” he added.
In a separate interview with DZBB radio, Palencia said the suspect appeared to have fired indiscriminately at students in a classroom next to his own after leaving his Grade 9 classroom. He used a 9 mm pistol belonging to his father, a Department of Education employee, after breaking into a vault where the firearm was stored and bringing it to school. He carried two magazines for the weapon and reloaded after emptying the first before turning the gun on himself.
The mayor described the suspect as an intelligent student who was active in taekwondo, adding there was no indication he had been bullied.
Authorities are examining the role of online communities in the attack. Citing information from police, Palencia said investigators found the suspect had posted in an online “true crime” community and were trying to determine the nature of the group.
The disclosure follows a Senate inquiry into a deadly school shooting in Tacloban in June, which examined the role of the so-called True Crime Community, described by police cybercrime officials as an online network of young people who share and consume violent extremist content. At least three students were killed and about 20 others injured in that attack, in which two classmates opened fire at a public high school.
Friday’s shooting is the third deadly campus attack in the Philippines since June, when school shootings were previously rare. Last month, a student livestreamed himself shooting and killing another student in a classroom in Zamboanga before taking his own life, reigniting debate over children’s access to social media and online content, and prompting calls for tougher gun storage and safety measures.
The Philippines has relatively strict gun ownership regulations, including background checks and psychological evaluation requirements, though illegal firearms remain in circulation. The Banga shooting also follows a high-profile incident in Thailand in August, in which a student went on a shooting rampage at a school on the outskirts of Bangkok.
Nationwide live shooter drills were conducted this month to strengthen security following earlier school shootings. Palencia said the Banga shooter’s parents had taken part in the drills there.
South Cotabato governor Reynaldo Tamayo urged parents to keep guns out of reach of minors. “We need to be responsible in storing firearms. Gun owners, in particular, must make sure that minors do not have access to them,” he told Reuters by phone. “We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students. We need to work together because otherwise this will be very difficult for us to address.”
Tamayo said the shooter had used a well-maintained 9 mm handgun and had acted alone. “For now, we are trying to let our fellow citizens know that the situation is stable and the case is contained,” he said. “We never thought that this would happen.”
In a video posted to Facebook and confirmed by AFP, a man can be seen carrying what appears to be a wounded child from the school, rushing him into the sidecar of a waiting motorbike. Classes have been suspended in the municipality of Banga.
The Department of Education said it was deeply concerned by the incident and was prioritising the safety and well-being of learners, teachers, and school personnel, while coordinating with authorities to provide psychological first aid and support.
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