Remulla ties Zamboanga shooting to Roblox chats again

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Wednesday he holds a “great degree of confidence” that the Grade 9 student who killed a classmate and himself at Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School was influenced by Roblox chat groups, even while gadget forensics remain unfinished.

The shooting on Tuesday morning left two students dead and at least two others hurt inside the Tumaga campus building. Remulla spoke at Camp Crame a day later, tying the manner of the attack to platform chats while stressing that Roblox itself is not dangerous.

What unfolded inside the junior high building

Shots rang out around 7:45 a.m. on August 18 inside the five-story junior high school building on the Ateneo de Zamboanga University campus in Barangay Tumaga, Zamboanga City. Police identified the shooter as Mohammad Mael Jalani, a Grade 9 student described by Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso as a very bright honor student and Roblox fanatic.

Jalani entered a fourth-floor classroom, fired at a teacher seated at the front and missed, then moved to another room and fatally shot a Grade 10 classmate. He went to the fifth floor and either jumped or shot himself, according to varying initial accounts from Remulla and local officials. Hundreds of students were evacuated. Classes were suspended and the university declared August 19 a day of mourning and prayer.

• 7:45 a.m., Gunfire reported inside the junior high building
• Fourth floor, Teacher missed; Grade 10 student killed
• Fifth floor, Shooter dies by suicide
• Aftermath, Two injured; campus locked down and evacuated

A body camera or phone captured snippets of the attack that circulated briefly on social media and Facebook Live. Remulla said the suspect appeared to film himself climbing the stairs “as if he were in a first-person shooting game scenario.” Some reports mentioned a link to a gore site called WatchPeopleDie.

Remulla’s confidence rests on the manner of the act

At the Camp Crame briefing, Remulla was careful about the unfinished work. “We still have to do a forensic examination on the gadgets of the shooter. Hindi pa natin alam with certainty,” he said. Then he added the line that drove the day’s coverage.

But, it is with great degree of confidence that he was influenced by the game of Roblox again because of the manner in which he did it. Roblox in itself is not a dangerous game. It is the chat group that is inside it. Doon nagkakaroon ng radicalization.

Remulla said investigators would examine the suspect’s social media, gaming history and chat records for a complete picture, including any depression trigger. He called again on Congress to curb first-person shooter games. GMA News and other outlets quoted him noting Jalani was top of his class with no prior bullying incidents.

The two pistols came from home

Police recovered two 9mm Glock pistols, a firearms bag and a backpack. One weapon had been issued by the Bureau of Customs to Jalani’s father, the Enforcement and Security Service district commander at the Port of Zamboanga. The second was the father’s licensed personal firearm. BOC chief Ariel Nepomuceno immediately relieved the father pending investigation into how the guns left secure custody. Customs deputy commissioner Nolasco Bathan said the father may face administrative charges for failing to safeguard the government-issued pistol.

Authorities are still establishing how the weapons passed campus security. The school had recently run simulation drills for exactly this scenario, university president Fr. Guillrey Anthony Andal noted with bitter irony.

The GoreBox script returns three months later

In June 2026 two teenagers opened fire at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, killing three students and wounding about 20. One suspect had played GoreBox, a graphic combat game. The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center moved quickly to block the app. Developer Felix Filip expressed heartbreak and offered cooperation. Remulla and other officials spent weeks linking the violence to the game.

That response now looks like a template. “Again” was the word Remulla chose for Roblox. The parallel is hard to miss: a minor brings a parent’s firearm onto campus, live-streams or films the act, and officials spotlight an online platform while the gun-storage failure sits in plain sight. School shootings remain rare in the Philippines, where legal ownership requires background checks and psychological evaluation, yet illegal and poorly secured guns continue to appear.

Roblox has faced Philippine pressure since March

Long before Tuesday, Roblox sat under official scrutiny. In March 2026 Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution seeking inquiry into the platform after reports of grooming, child sexual exploitation material, neo-Nazi content and groups allegedly promoting school shootings. PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group statements warned that children were being exposed to extremist material. CICC Executive Director Alexander “Aboy” Paraiso and Council for the Welfare of Children chief Angelo Tapales later detailed how groomers create custom shooting experiences inside Roblox, identify vulnerable players, then move them to less-moderated messaging apps for direct indoctrination and instructions on violence.

Government “non-negotiables” for continued operation included a Philippine office for subpoena compliance, integration with the PhilSys national ID for age verification, and a 24/7 green-lane channel for takedowns. Paraiso said CICC investigators registered as minors and still reached sexually explicit content and violent games. Roblox has rolled out its own measures. The company made facial age checks required to chat a global standard in early 2026, the first major platform to do so. Users can also complete government-issued photo ID verification. Age-based Kids and Select accounts followed, with chat locked for younger users and expanded parental controls. The company’s June 2026 facial-recognition work in other markets, including a Roblox facial recognition rollout after Nevada settlement, shows the same safety push under legal pressure elsewhere.

Where the guns and the chats meet the parents

Olaso urged Congress to ban violent online games and told parents to keep firearms out of children’s reach. Education Secretary Sonny Angara and DepEd appealed for compassion over clicks and pledged psychosocial support. Alliance of Concerned Teachers and EDCOM 2 called for better mental-health funding, anti-bullying enforcement and accountability for how a minor obtained a service weapon. The PNP has previously urged families to dial 911 for online child threats; that PNP advice to parents on online child threats remains the practical frontline while platform rules and household storage catch up.

Crowd reaction after Tacloban already flagged the same gap. Commentators then asked why officials spent more energy on GoreBox than on the relatives who owned the guns. The same observation fits Zamboanga: a top student with access to two pistols and a body camera does not become a shooter solely because a chat group exists. Forensic results on the gadgets will either strengthen or soften Remulla’s confidence. Until then the historical pattern is clear. Platform pressure rises after every school attack. Secure storage of government and licensed firearms does not keep the same pace.

Investigators continue examining the father’s custody practices, the school’s entry protocols, and the shooter’s full digital trail. Marcos has ordered a broader probe. Senators are already talking tighter gun rules and juvenile-justice review. The gadgets will speak next.