Three people, including a former mayor in the volatile southern Philippines, died and two more were wounded on Sunday (July 24) from a shooting incident at a university graduation rites in the capital, the police reported.
The suspect, wounded in a shootout with a campus security officer, is already in authorities’ custody and under interrogation, Quezon City police chief Remus Medina told reporters.
Rose Furigay, former mayor of the southern Lamitan city, was shot as she was about to attend the graduation of her daughter at the law school of Ateneo de Manila Unversity, Medina said.
The suspect, who had no relative at the graduation, was also a native of Lamitan city in Basilan province, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, a pro-Islamist State extremist group known for its banditry and kidnapping.
The two other casualties were a campus security officer and an unidentified male, the police said.
Ateneo cancelled the graduation ceremony because of the shooting incident.
In the Southeast Asian nation, shooting incidents are sporadic, with owners required to have permits to carry guns in public. Private security officers in the Philippines carry either handguns or shotguns, and firearms are a common sight in shopping malls, offices, banks, restaurants and even schools.
(Reuters)
