THE Grade 9 shooter at Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU) gained access to the guns he used because his father, a Customs police chief, left the weapons inside his car while they drove to school, Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Wednesday.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, Remulla said ADZU, a private school, had 25 security guards employed making rounds day and night. Two police vehicles were also stationed outside the university, indicating that security measures were in place given recent incidents of school-related violence.
At the pedestrian gate, each person is thoroughly searched upon entry to the school but no search is done when students enter the school aboard vehicles.
“The child got into his father’s car. He was no longer frisked — he just got into the car then went straight down to the basement and proceeded immediately,” Remulla said in Filipino.
“The owner of the gun, the shooter’s father, said he simply left his gun bag in the car, and the child snatched it from there.”
Remulla said the likelihood of this happening was “highly improbable” because gun safety and safe keeping are imperative in the training of all uniformed personnel.
“All the police officers here beside me treat their guns like their spouses. They don’t leave them behind; they always bring them,” he said.
Remulla called on Congress to impose tougher penalties on gun owners who fail to properly secure their firearms.
Remulla said firearm ownership carries not only the privilege of possessing a gun but also the responsibility to ensure that it is properly secured and cannot be accessed by unauthorized persons.
“I call upon Congress to enact laws that will penalize gun owners for the non-safekeeping of their weapons,” Remulla said during a media briefing with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr.
He said existing laws do not adequately hold firearm owners accountable when their weapons are accessed by another person and used to commit a crime.
Remulla said gun owners should face a penalty beyond reckless imprudence when their failure to properly secure a firearm allows another person to use it to kill or injure others.
“It is not as simple as a car that gets into an accident. Lives are at stake,” Remulla said.
Remulla also said the government would review firearm safekeeping rules for uniformed personnel, including members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the PNP.
He noted that hundreds of thousands of uniformed personnel are legally authorized to possess firearms and said they must strictly comply with safety requirements, particularly when bringing their weapons home.
“We will revisit, and we will be trained, and we will reiterate their responsibility,” he said.
Shooter’s motive probed
Meanwhile, investigators are seeking to examine the electronic gadgets of the shooter to determine his motive and whether he had a specific target.
Police Maj. Shellamie Chang, public information officer of the Police Regional Office in Zamboanga Peninsula (PRO-9), said the student’s family had agreed to cooperate with investigators and turn over his gadgets for forensic examination.
The devices will be examined by the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group for information that could shed light on what the student had been experiencing before the shooting and why he carried it out, Chang said.
“From these, we can obtain information that could help in the investigation,” Chang said in a radio interview on Wednesday.
Nartatez said authorities were also examining the student’s background, including possible bullying and academic pressures.
The shooter was reportedly an exceptional and high-performing student, with no known behavioral or bullying incidents reported to authorities so far.
Investigators have yet to establish whether the student specifically targeted his victim or whether the victim was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Nartatez said authorities were still conducting forensic examinations and interviews.
Police have recovered two pistols — a 9-millimeter (mm) and a caliber.40 firearm — which are now in PNP custody for ballistic examination.
Investigators recovered at least seven fired cartridges, four from the 9 mm and three from the caliber.40 firearm.
The PNP is coordinating with the Civil Security Group to determine the ownership and registration status of the firearms.
The PRO-9 has also formed a Special Investigation Task Group to handle the case.
Chang denied earlier reports that the student had jumped from the school’s fifth floor to his death.
She said the student entered the school through the basement, went to the fourth floor where he shot his victim, then proceeded to the fifth floor where he shot himself.
His body was found on the fifth floor.
Nartatez said the entire incident lasted roughly two to three minutes. Responding police officers reached the fourth floor, but the student had already shot himself before they could apprehend him.
Authorities said two people died, including the student, while two others were injured. A 15-year-old victim suffered a gunshot wound to the back and was reported to be in stable condition.
The PNP said no security guard or teacher was shot during the incident.
Livestream on a violent website
Quoting initial reports, Remulla said the young shooter made a livestream on a website called watchpeopledie.com.
“So it gives us a scenario that his intent was to show the world what he was doing,” Remulla said.
WatchPeopleDie is an online forum and shock site dedicated to sharing and discussing graphic, unfiltered videos and images of real-life human deaths, including homicides, suicides, accidents and executions, according to adl.org, a Jewish nongovernmental organization and anti-hate advocacy group.
It is a forum where users can post and view real images and videos of violence, including murders, torture, rape, executions, beheadings, suicides, dismemberments, accidents and animal killings.
Likely influenced by Roblox
The video the student livestreamed resembled a first-person shooter game, Remulla said, making it likely that he was influenced by violent online games, an angle also seen in the Tacloban school shooting in June.
“We still have two forensic examinations on the gadget of the shooter. We don’t know with certainty, but it is with great degree of confidence that he was influenced by the game of Roblox because of the manner in which he did it,” Remulla said.
While Remulla previously pushed for broader controls or bans on violent video games, he said the game itself is not inherently dangerous, pointing instead to internal chat features and radicalization risks.
School security
Remulla said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) was also coordinating with the Department of Education (DepEd) to strengthen security protocols in schools.
He said a memorandum circular on tighter school security protocols would be signed by the DepEd.
The DILG is seeking to allow village watchmen (barangay tanods) to establish posts inside schools, saying they could help identify and address problems involving students because of their familiarity with the local community.
“What we are asking is to allow the village watchmen to put up a station inside schools,” Remulla said.
He said village watchmen know many of the students in their communities and could talk to them or intervene when problems arise.
The proposed measure would complement the PNP’s security presence outside schools, particularly during periods when students arrive and leave school premises
Remulla said school security protocols, including procedures for vehicles entering school grounds, also need to be reviewed.
He said private schools generally allow vehicles to enter without the same level of inspection that might be conducted at other facilities, and that existing procedures should be reassessed following the shooting.
The DILG chief also called for greater attention to bullying incidents in schools, saying these should not be dismissed as ordinary student conflicts.
He said the government response would require cooperation among Congress, law enforcement agencies, schools, local governments, parents and communities.
“We need Congress. We need everyone to work together,” Remulla said.
Learner safety
Education Secretary Sonny Angara and Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian both visited Zamboanga City on Wednesday in the aftermath of the school shooting.
The education chief met with school officials led by ADZU President Fr. Guillrey Anthony Andal, Zamboanga City local government officials and representatives from the PNP for a joint security briefing to evaluate campus protocols and to streamline emergency measures.
“We need to approach this problem as a community because this is not just an issue affecting one school. I believe it is a concern for our youth, our communities and every community across the country.” Angara said.
Angara highlighted during his discussions that while physical safeguards — such as perimeter fences, CCTV cameras, metal detectors and heightened police visibility — are vital, they must be paired with active community engagement and strong emotional support systems within schools. He also said that safe environments begin at home, urging parents to stay closely attuned to their children’s well-being.
The PNP said that it would step up police visibility around school perimeters, while village watchmen will be deployed to enforce safety, especially in schools lacking security guards.
Angara also stressed the need to scale up socioemotional learning and mental health initiatives across all schools, as psychosocial support interventions are currently being delivered to affected individuals by the university.
He also met with school principals from the Zamboanga City Schools Division Office to directly address frontline operational concerns, focusing on strategies to address classroom shortages and concrete steps to heighten campus security measures.
Meanwhile, Gatchalian also visited Zamboanga City to visit the wounded students in the incident.
“President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. sent us here, first and foremost, to ensure that those who were injured and the victims are being taken care of. When I say victims, I’m not referring only to those who sustained physical injuries, but the entire community. That is the president’s priority,” Gatchalian told reporters.
Gatchalian said that Marcos’ instruction was to ensure the safety and recovery of all affected members of the Ateneo de Zamboanga community, prompting the national government to mobilize concerned agencies to support those affected by the tragic incident.
Both Angara and Gatchalian appealed both to the media and the public to protect the dignity of minors by not sharing the video of the shooting that has been making the rounds online as well as sharing unverified information.
“We are appealing to the public, media practitioners, vloggers and content creators to immediately stop posting, sharing or amplifying graphic photos and videos of the Zamboanga school shooting incident. The publication of these sensitive materials inflicts secondary trauma on the victims, exploits human tragedy and deeply violates the dignity of the grieving families,” Gatchalian said.
