THE fatal shooting at a high school in Zamboanga City Tuesday morning has the hallmarks of cognitive grooming, particularly the involvement of a teenage gunman, a school setting and the livestreaming of the violence, cybersecurity expert Angel Redoble said Tuesday.
Redoble, chairman and founding president of the Philippine Institute of Cyber Security Professionals (Picspro), said the circumstances surrounding the Zamboanga attack should be examined against the modus operandi associated with 764, an online network known for targeting vulnerable young people and encouraging increasingly extreme behavior.
Redoble, who has been trained in studying the methods used by the 764 network — which grooms minors by encouraging acts of violence and even pornography — said investigators should determine whether the Zamboanga shooter had contact with members or communities associated with the group.
“The similarities between the two incidents are strangely similar. I am not saying factually that these similarities establish that 764 influenced the gunman or that the Zamboanga shooting was directed by the network,” Redoble told The Manila Times.
“The sequencing and the outcome are telling and provide investigators with specific areas to examine, including the student’s social media accounts, gaming activity, private chats, online communities, search history and communications before the shooting,” he added.
Authorities have already said they would examine the shooter’s gaming and chat histories as part of the investigation.
Police said the shooter, a Grade 9 student, entered the high school building at Ateneo de Zamboanga University carrying two firearms and opened fire, killing a Grade 10 student and injuring nine other people before killing himself.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the livestream appeared to begin as the shooter was climbing the stairs, although only snippets were available. The attack was recorded through a body-worn camera and partially livestreamed on Facebook.
Redoble said the livestream was significant in examining a possible cognitive grooming connection.
Part of the 764 network’s objective, he said, is to convince and coerce minors to seek “revenge fame” through the recording and circulation of violent acts against what the group defines as “the enemy” or “perpetrators,” referring to alleged bullies.
