Ateneo Shooter’s Dad Left Guns In Car – BOC

The junior high school student who went on a shooting rampage at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University on Tuesday, Aug. 18, got hold of the firearms in his father’s car, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla and Bureau of Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno said on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Remulla said at a press briefing at Camp Crame on Wednesday that Lt. Elias Jalani II, the gunman’s father, left his guns inside the vehicle, unknowingly allowing his son to access the weapons.

According to Remulla, they found it “highly improbable” for a law enforcer to leave his firearms inside his car when they were trained on gun safety.

Nepomuceno, for his part, said he was able to talk to Jalani after the shooting incident, and the suspended BOC officer said it was routine for him to bring his son to school. But on Tuesday, it was only his driver that brought the boy to school.

Like Remulla, Nepomuceno said what happened was not justifiable. “As an officer, your firearm should always be with you, and you are responsible for that because you are entrusted with the assets of the government that were given to you.”

Remulla said the gunman, a 14-year-old Grade 8 student, entered the campus in Barangay Tumaga in his father’s vehicle where the two firearms, a Glock 22 .40-caliber handgun and a Glock 9mm pistol were kept.

Because the student was in the car, he was not bodily searched or inspected by security guards at the campus, Remulla said.

While inside the vehicle, the suspect apparently got hold of his father’s firearms which he used in killing a 15-year-old Grade 10 student and then himself.

From the vehicle, the suspect went to the basement with the firearms and then walked upstairs to the fourth floor of the building. With a body camera on, he first entered a classroom and fired at a teacher but missed.

The shooter then went to another room and shot a student twice, killing the victim. Two students were injured, a 15-year-old girl who was grazed by a bullet on her back as she tried to flee, and a 16-year-old boy who fainted. Remulla said the suspect was able to livestream his shooting spree through a website called watchpeopledie.com.

“It was like a video game, a first-person shooter,” said Remulla.

Of the two firearms reportedly used by the suspect, only the short pistol is a BOC-issued firearm. The Philippine National Police (PNP) is still verifying if the longer firearm, a modified pistol, was licensed and had a permit.

Nepomuceno said the suspect initially used the longer firearm then used the shorter one to shoot himself dead.

Based on the video of the shooting, it seemed that the suspect knew how to use a firearm. Nepomuceno said it was like watching a virtual game where only the gun and the targets were seen.

“It seems like a simulation of what really happened. But it was really actual – it was like reality and virtual combined seen in the video,” he said.

After his rampage, the boy shot himself dead even before police officers stationed outside the campus and security guards could reach him.

“Everything happened within a span (of) two minutes,” Remulla said.

At least seven bullet casings were recovered by investigators at the scene.

Police investigators are working to establish the suspect’s motive, who Remulla said was an honor student and top of his class. They are pursuing several angles, including one report that he was under pressure to maintain high grades.

There were also reports, still being verified, that he was being bullied by one of his teachers, which may have triggered his depression.

Remulla said probers obtained information the suspect was an avid player of Roblox, an online gaming platform which terrorists are allegedly using to radicalize children.

“Roblox itself is not dangerous. It is the chat group that is beside it where radicalization comes in,” he said.

Remulla and PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. will visit Zamboanga City today, Aug. 20. to oversee the investigation.

Investigators aren’t done interviewing the driver.

Nepomuceno also gave assurance of BOC’s cooperation with the investigation being conducted by various agencies.

He described Jalani as a “good officer” despite the tragedy.

“I am not defending him, but he was appointed as head of our (Customs) police there (Zamboanga because) he is a good officer. He works well,” Nepomuceno said.

He said Jalani was behind several successful anti-smuggling operations of the bureau.

“We fight smugglers, especially in that area which is a hot spot for smuggling cigarettes, oil, agricultural products, particularly rice. He puts himself in harm’s way 24/7.”

But Nepomuceno said Jalani had to be immediately relieved from the post to give way to the investigation and establish how the firearms ended up in his son’s hands.

“We are not blaming him for what his son did. But as a public official, offhand, he should have been more careful on how to ensure that his guns are safe and would not be accessed by his children. That is the reason why I am compelled, as the commissioner, to relieve him,” he added.

Nepomuceno said Jalani’s family is going through a difficult time.

In accordance with Muslim tradition, the suspect was buried on Tuesday.

Nepomuceno said his bureau gave its full support to the PNP investigation, and that it was too early to determine the circumstances that allowed the shooter to gain access to the weapons.

“Administrative liability, definitely, there is negligence there,” Nepomuceno said. – With Roel Pareño