2 students in custody after Philippines school shooting kills 3, wounds 20

Gunfire at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City left three students dead and sent shock through a government-run campus of more than 1,500 pupils, turning a school day into a test of how quickly Philippine authorities can trace violence back to its source. Police said the suspects were two students, ages 14 and 15, and that one was detained at the scene while the other later surrendered after a manhunt.

The shooting happened around 9 a.m. Monday, June 22, in Barangay San Jose, Leyte, as classes were underway. The casualty count shifted as responders and investigators pieced together the scene: most wire-service reports settled on three students killed and seven wounded, while earlier accounts and some local updates put the number of injured much higher, reaching 11, 13 or even 20. That widening range underscored how quickly the violence spread and how difficult it was for officials to pin down the toll in the first hours after the attack.

Investigators were also looking at motive. Police said they were examining a possible bullying-related trigger and a suspected grudge, while the more immediate public safety concern was how two minors got access to firearms in the first place. The weapons recovered were reported as a .38-caliber revolver and a 9mm pistol. Local reporting linked the 9mm pistol to a policewoman who is related to one of the suspects, while another account said the guns were traced to a Cebu City security agency. That trail has put attention on firearm custody, household access and the security practices that can fail long before a shot is fired.

Authorities have described school shootings as extremely rare in the Philippines, which is part of why the Tacloban attack has drawn such scrutiny. The Philippine National Police urged parents and teachers to watch children’s social media and gadget use after the shooting, a response that points to concerns about warning signs as much as weapons. The case is already being measured against the July 24, 2022 shooting at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, where three people were killed during a graduation ceremony. That earlier attack was targeted; this one hit a schoolwide setting and left officials confronting whether it was an isolated eruption or a warning of a broader vulnerability.