Three people killed in Philippines university shooting, officials say

Agencies | Manila

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Three people were killed Sunday in a rare shooting at a university in the Philippine capital Manila, officials said, in what appears to have been a targeted assassination. The incident happened at Ateneo de Manila University as law students and their families arrived for a graduation ceremony that was to be attended by the Supreme Court chief justice.

The alleged gunman has been detained. Rose Furigay, a former city mayor in the restive southern province of Basilan and whose daughter was among the graduates, was killed, authorities said. Furigay's executive assistant and a university security guard were also killed. Her daughter was wounded and is in a "stable condition" in hospital, police said.

"We are quite distraught and bereaved by this occurrence," Joy Belmonte, the mayor of a local government unit where the shooting happened, told AFP. School and university shootings are rare in the Philippines despite its lax gun rules. But targeted killings of politicians are fairly common, particularly during elections.