‘I thought it was just another drill’: Inside the Zamboanga school shooting
Students at a school in Zamboanga, Philippines, initially mistook a real-life school shooting for a routine safety drill due to recent training exercises. The incident resulted in two deaths, including the perpetrator, and left several others wounded.
Why it matters
The tragedy highlights the psychological impact of active shooter drills in schools and the blurred lines between emergency preparedness and the reality of violence.
Listen MANILA – Students at Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School in the southern Philippines thought the first gunshot they heard on the morning of Aug 18 was part of another drill.
The school had undergone one only a month ago, after a shooting at a public high school in Tacloban City in central Philippines in June left three students dead.
“When we heard the first gunshot, we all went silent. I was thinking it was just another drill,” said a Grade 7 student at the campus, where a schoolmate opened fire that morning, killing a student before turning the gun on himself.
“Then we heard more. Our teacher asked us to lock the door, and we placed tables and chairs against the door. We hid and waited,” added the student, whose mother agreed to The Straits Times interview on condition of anonymity.
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