The 16-year-old student who allegedly went on a shooting rampage at Banga National High School in the southern Philippines had planned the attack as early as August and warned some classmates hours before carrying it out, according to Mayor Albert Palencia.
Palencia said on Saturday that police investigators had briefed him on the teenager’s alleged plans based on group-chat conversations recovered from the student’s cellphone.
The conversations reportedly showed that the attack was initially set for Sept 3 but did not happen, the mayor said.
Some classmates apparently knew about the plan and skipped school on Friday, Palencia said. Hours before the shooting, the teenager allegedly told friends and classmates to go home after lunch because he was about to carry out his plan.
The warnings, however, were reportedly dismissed as jokes because the student was known among his classmates for joking around.
The revelations raised questions about whether the student’s plans could have been detected or reported before he entered the school armed.
Palencia said he was briefed on the investigation and had also spoken with the suspect’s class adviser, who described the teenager as an achiever in a special class and a taekwondo practitioner.
He was considered well-behaved and had not been known as a problem student in school, the mayor said.
The teenager allegedly left his classroom at around 1.15pm and began firing, Palencia said.
A 14-year-old student, identified by her grandfather as Rhea, was among those who witnessed the shooting.
Rhea’s grandfather, Lito, told reporters his granddaughter saw the suspect shoot a male student before entering their classroom.
Citing the girl’s account, Lito said only a few students were inside the classroom when the shooting began.
During the gunfire, Rhea felt something graze her side and later noticed what appeared to be black powder residue, which she wiped off.
Palencia said investigators had determined that the firearm used in the attack was allegedly owned by the teenager’s father, a government employee.
The student reportedly broke open a vault where the firearm was kept and took the gun to school, according to the mayor.
The shooting has renewed scrutiny of security measures in public schools, with Education Secretary Sonny Angara acknowledging on Saturday that the education sector is not adequately prepared for school shootings.
Strengthening school security would require the cooperation of the Education Department, local governments and communities, he said, noting that the department lacked sufficient funds for additional physical security.
The investigation is also expected to examine the teenager’s online activities.
Palencia said police found that the student was allegedly a member of an online social media group called “True Crime Community”, where posts about school shootings were reportedly shared.
The mayor raised the possibility that such online content may have influenced the student, but stressed that the authorities had yet to establish this as the motive for the shooting.
Investigators were examining the recovered group chats and looking into other members of the online community to determine whether anyone else might have been involved in planning the attack. — Philippine Daily Enquirer/ANN
