Three teenagers were killed while 13 others were injured when two students opened fire at the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte on Monday morning, police said.
The alleged shooters, aged 15 and 14, had fired "randomly" inside San Jose National High School, PLt. Evalyn Diaz told AFP of the violence that sent terrified students running for cover.
Irvin Nogar, a 52-year-old social studies teacher, told AFP he was in the middle of a class at the school in Leyte province's Tacloban City when he heard several "loud gun shots".
"I saw a shooter walking towards our area, so I told the students to be calm and hide under their desks and I locked the door... they were crying and in panic."
A video shared with ABS-CBN News showed panicked children screaming and crying while hiding inside a classroom amid the sound of gunfire.
In another video, students and teachers rushed out of the school, some of them weeping. A female student who appeared to be wounded was carried outside by her peers.
The fatalities were confirmed to be students.
Police said the 2 suspects in the shooting have been arrested, including a Grade 9 student from the same school.
For those who are not familiar with the Philippines, school shootings are not a thing here at all.
Once in a blue moon you'll have someone bring a gun to shoot a bully, but it's really few and far between.
The only other incident close to this was a shooting in Ateneo in 2022, but that's more of a revenge-assassination carried out by an outsider who had a grudge on a former mayor and just so happened to be attending her child's graduation than a "school shooting".
So, this is really the first and only case of a mass shooting I could remember. And when it happened, kids had no idea what to do. Some of those who were killed was seen on video standing on the door trying to prevent the gunmen from entering (and therefore shot) when they should be barricading the doors with heavy objects like tables.
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