The shooting, which occurred on Monday at San Jose National High School in Leyte province, is among the deadliest school attacks in recent Philippine history and has prompted heightened scrutiny of youth violence, firearm access and online content.

National police spokesman Allen Rae Co said preliminary findings indicated the attack had been premeditated. Investigators found that the two suspects, aged 15 and 14, had remained together in a school restroom for more than an hour before the shooting began.

“All indications point to the fact that it was planned,” Co told reporters during a briefing.

Authorities said the suspects are in custody. The attack left three students dead and 15 others hospitalized with gunshot wounds. One victim remained in critical condition on Tuesday, according to local police.

“His condition is under strict observation, but we were told he is fighting for his life,” Tacloban police spokeswoman Evalyn Diaz said.

Police said investigators are examining claims that the suspects had experienced bullying at school, while also reviewing evidence suggesting exposure to violent online material may have contributed to the attack.

Diaz said witness accounts and early investigative findings appeared consistent with reports that bullying had been a motivating factor. However, Co said authorities had also identified indications that online communities or digital content may have influenced one of the suspects.

“Based on our initial investigation, the 14-year-old was heavily influenced by online content,” Co said, adding that investigators were examining the possible role of an unidentified online group.

Authorities disclosed that the younger suspect allegedly used a Glock 9mm pistol belonging to his aunt, a police officer who has since been suspended and taken into custody pending investigation. Police said the teenager had previously visited a firing range and possessed basic familiarity with handling firearms.

Regional police director Jason Capoy said the second weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, was registered to a security agency where the grandfather of the older suspect had previously worked.

Witnesses told investigators that the gunmen moved through a school corridor and fired through classroom windows as students sought shelter. Police said the attackers appeared to have coordinated their movements during the assault.

Capoy also said investigators discovered that the younger suspect frequently played GoreBox, a violent first-person shooter video game. Shortly after police disclosed that information, the Philippines’ cybercrime authorities announced a temporary ban on the game while an investigation is conducted.

The shooting has sent shockwaves through Tacloban, where local authorities canceled classes citywide. Philippine Education Secretary Sonny Angara visited injured students and teachers on Tuesday and said many remained deeply traumatized by the events.

“When it was the principal’s turn to share, she collapsed,” Angara told reporters. “That’s what we call trauma, which is very real.”

Teachers interviewed by police described the two suspects as ordinary students with no known record of serious disciplinary problems, according to investigators.

School shootings remain uncommon in the Philippines, where strict gun regulations and cultural factors have historically limited such incidents. Earlier this month, however, seven students were wounded in a separate knife attack at a school in Cavite province, raising concerns about campus security and youth violence.

The shooting occurred at around 9:00 a.m. local time at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, in Leyte province, police said. Two suspects, aged 15 and 14, were taken into custody shortly after the attack and are being questioned in the presence of their parents.

Police said the two boys fired indiscriminately inside the school compound, killing three students and injuring five others. Authorities have not yet established a definitive motive for the attack.

“We are hearing bullying was the motive behind their actions, but we have yet to ask them,” police Lieutenant Evalyn Diaz told AFP, adding that investigators were still working to reconstruct the sequence of events.

Authorities are also investigating how the suspects obtained the firearms and managed to bring them onto school grounds.

The injured students were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment, although officials have not released details regarding their conditions.

Video footage circulated by local media and verified by AFP showed students hiding inside classrooms while gunshots rang out across the campus, with children heard screaming and crying during the incident.

The Philippine Department of Education described the attack as a “high-alert situation” and said officials from the national, regional and local education offices had been deployed to coordinate with law enforcement agencies and school administrators.

“Our Central Office officials, alongside regional and division office personnel, are active on the ground, coordinating closely with school authorities and law enforcement to secure the premises,” the department said in a statement.

School shootings are uncommon in the Philippines, where firearms ownership is tightly regulated. However, illegal weapons remain widely available through black-market networks, and gun-related violence is frequently linked to criminal activity, personal disputes and local political rivalries.

In 2022, three people, including a former city mayor, were killed in a shooting near a graduation ceremony at Ateneo de Manila University in the capital. Authorities later concluded that attack was motivated by personal grievances.

Monday’s shooting is likely to renew scrutiny of school security measures and access to illegal firearms in the Southeast Asian nation as investigators continue to examine the circumstances surrounding the attack.

An author has described how reading and storytelling became a source of personal freedom during a childhood marked by bullying, shaping both their relationship with literature and the themes explored in their fiction.

According to the author, childhood experiences often left them feeling constrained and unable to experience the sense of ease and security they sought in everyday life. They said that books provided an alternative space in which they could exercise imagination, process difficult emotions and engage with experiences that felt inaccessible in their immediate surroundings.

The author said reading offered opportunities that extended beyond entertainment. Through stories, they found what they described as freedom, allowing them to explore emotions and perspectives that were difficult to express elsewhere.

Literature became a place where they could confront the effects of bullying and reflect on the fear those experiences created.While acknowledging the negative impact of being bullied, the author said those experiences also prompted them to seek broader intellectual and emotional horizons.

They noted that bullying narrowed aspects of their world by creating fear and limiting confidence, but at the same time encouraged them to pursue new forms of connection and understanding through books and storytelling.

“Being bullied forced me to find ways to make my world bigger,” the author said, describing reading as a means of expanding opportunities for imagination and self-discovery.The experience has continued to influence their professional work.

The author said their writing is informed by the books that provided comfort during challenging periods of their life. They aim to create stories that offer readers a similar sense of support and encouragement, particularly those who may be facing difficulties of their own.

According to the author, an important objective in their fiction is to produce narratives that balance realism with optimism. They said they understand the significance of finding books that connect with readers’ experiences while also providing reassurance and hope. That perspective has become a guiding principle in their approach to storytelling.

The author’s latest novel, described as a contemporary retelling of Little Women, provided an opportunity to explore themes related to family life and motherhood. Through the process of developing the novel, they examined their own ideas about parenting and family relationships, using fiction as a framework for reflection.

They said imagining and fictionalising what motherhood might feel like proved to be a significant creative experience. Writing allowed them to engage with questions and possibilities that had not been available to them in childhood, offering a space to explore different aspects of domestic life through narrative.

The author characterized the process as personally meaningful, explaining that fiction enabled them to revisit forms of imaginative play that had been difficult to access when they were younger. Storytelling, they said, created opportunities to engage with family dynamics and personal relationships in ways that extended beyond their own lived experiences.

According to the author, one of the defining qualities of fiction is its ability to create encounters with different people, perspectives and communities. Through writing, they said they are able to inhabit a variety of worlds and experiences, broadening their understanding of human relationships and social realities.

This capacity for exploration remains central to their understanding of literature. The author suggested that stories serve not only as vehicles for entertainment but also as mechanisms for connection, empathy and discovery. By creating fictional characters and settings, writers are able to investigate experiences that may differ significantly from their own.

The author’s comments highlight the role literature can play in helping individuals navigate difficult circumstances. Reading provided a means of coping with feelings of isolation and fear during childhood, while writing later became a way of transforming those experiences into creative work.

In both cases, stories functioned as a means of expanding possibilities rather than accepting limitations.The relationship between personal experience and creative expression is evident throughout the author’s account.

Experiences of bullying shaped the search for refuge in books, while those same experiences later influenced the desire to write stories that offer encouragement and understanding. The progression from reader to writer reflects an effort to recreate for others the sense of possibility that literature once provided.

The author emphasized that stories have the ability to meet readers at particular moments in their lives. For individuals facing uncertainty, loneliness or adversity, books can provide both recognition and perspective. That belief informs their commitment to producing fiction that is accessible, uplifting and rooted in human connection.

Their latest work continues that approach by examining themes of family, care and belonging through a contemporary adaptation of a well-known literary text. By reimagining elements of Little Women, the author sought to engage with enduring questions about relationships, identity and the meaning of home while also incorporating their own reflections on motherhood.

Throughout the creative process, the author said fiction offered a space where imagination and personal experience could intersect. Through storytelling, they were able to revisit aspects of childhood, explore alternative possibilities and engage with lives beyond their own.

For the author, that process represents one of literature’s most enduring strengths.The author said that reading first provided the freedom they struggled to find elsewhere, while writing later became a means of extending that freedom through stories designed to offer comfort, understanding and hope to others.