Police in the Philippines said a shooting at a public high school in Tacloban left three students dead and 20 other people hurt, turning an ordinary school morning into one of the deadliest recent episodes of school violence reported in the country. The account available in the source material comes from police statements carried by DZRH and remains the basis for the known facts at this stage.
According to that report, the attack unfolded at about 9:20 a.m. on June 22. Officers said one injured person was in critical condition when they provided their update. They also broke down the casualties by type, saying 15 people suffered gunshot wounds while five others were injured in other ways during the chaos that followed the shooting.
Investigators quickly focused on two suspects who were both minors and both students, according to police. DZRH said they were identified publicly only by aliases, with one reported to be 14 years old and the other 15. Officers said they recovered two firearms from the pair: a Glock 9mm pistol and a .38 caliber revolver.
The same police account raised immediate questions about how the teenagers gained access to those weapons. A police spokesperson said one gun was tied to a policewoman described as the aunt of one suspect, while the other was linked to a Cebu-based private security firm. The spokesperson added that the policewoman had been placed under regional custody while the matter was investigated further. Officers also said 40 spent shells were collected from the school grounds.
Authorities cautioned that the investigation was still developing, but they offered an early theory about motive. Police said initial findings suggested a grievance connected to bullying. Because that explanation was expressly preliminary in the source evidence, it remains an allegation rather than an established conclusion.
The legal process described in the report reflects the suspects' ages. Police said the two minors were being held pending transfer to the city social welfare department under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act. That indicates the case would move through child-protection procedures rather than follow the ordinary path for adult defendants.
Beyond the casualty figures, the report highlights several unresolved issues: how the firearms were obtained, whether the bullying theory will stand up under investigation, and what security failures allowed the attack to unfold inside a school. For now, the verified core is narrower but stark enough on its own: three students died, 20 people were injured, two minors were arrested, and investigators say the weapons they used can be traced to outside sources now under review.
