A deadly school attack in the southern Philippines is drawing scrutiny as part of an apparent regional pattern of youth violence that echoes the staging, symbolism and online spectacle of mass shootings overseas.
Authorities are investigating whether the incident in Zamboanga, in which a student reportedly broadcast parts of the attack online, was influenced by exposure to digital media, while analysts said the case underscored the risk of “memetic violence” – in which past atrocities are glorified online and recast as scripts for imitation.
The attack took place on Tuesday morning at the junior high school campus of the privately run Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga City, where police said a student brought weapons onto campus, opened fire inside a classroom and killed a fellow student. Investigators are still examining the sequence of events and the student’s motive.
Zamboanga Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso said in a radio interview on DZBB that the student had live-streamed the attack through a body-worn camera. Olaso also said that the gunman shot at a teacher and a Grade 10 student before taking his own life.
The shooter’s father, a customs police officer, was relieved of his duties after the attack as investigators looked into reports that the firearms used belonged to him.
The attack occurred a little over a week after a 14-year-old in Thailand killed seven people in a rampage that began at home and continued at a public school on the outskirts of Bangkok.