Reported threat by student before attack unverified —Ateneo de Zamboanga exec

Reports that the Grade 8 student, who opened fire at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU), had previously threatened to “shoot the school” remain unverified, a school official said Thursday.

During a Senate hearing on the school shooting, Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality chairperson Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked AdZU Board of Trustees chairperson Pedro Soliven about possible warning signs in the student’s behavior.

Hontiveros cited reports that some of the student’s classmates had allegedly heard him make threats to shoot the school.

Soliven said the school could not yet confirm the reports, noting that the incident remains under investigation.

“At this point we can not give information on that as we are still trying to dig out all the facts, and we don’t want to be speculative… We don’t want to derail or add more information that will somehow confuse the final outcome of the report pending investigation,” he said.

He described the student as a “normal” child and said he was among the brightest students in his year level.

“He was a normal kid, and he was even one of the brightest among the students in his level. In fact, he graduated valedictorian in grade school, also in Ateneo,” Soliven said.

Soliven also expressed regret over the shooting, noting that AdZU had strengthened its security measures following a previous school shooting incident in Tacloban.

“We don’t want this to occur once, and we don’t want this to happen in any school. The school should be a safe space for our kids, and it’s really very unfortunate that this happened to Ateneo de Zamboanga University,” he said.

The shooting happened Tuesday before classes started. Two students, including the shooter, died in the incident. —AOL, GMA News