Police investigators have so far recovered at least 40 spent bullet casings at the gun attack site inside the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City that indicates the intention of the two students, aged 14 and 15, to go on a shooting rampage.

Col. Allen Rae Co, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the empty shells indicate the use of a 9mm pistol and a .38 revolver which were seized from the two students when they were arrested.

“Upon verification the .9mm Glock belongs or was issued to a policewoman assigned in PRO 8 (Police Regional Office 8) while the caliber .38 revolver is registered to a security agency in Cebu City,” said Co in a press briefing at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

During the investigation, it turned out that the 14-year old suspect is the nephew of a female police officer.

How the service firearm of the policewoman ended at the hands of the 14-year old shooter is now the subject of the investigation, according to Co.

Police are also backtracking if the other shooter, a Grade 9 student, has relatives working in a security agency.

The gun attack that happened at around 9 a.m. resulted in the death of three people and inflicted injuries to seven others. The injured victims are now on stable condition.

Of the injured victims, three of them were a result of the shooting while the four others suffered injuries as a result of the stampede and attempts to leave the school by scaling the walls.

“Initially it appears that the motive of the crime is a grudge for school bullying,” said Co.

But it is not immediately clear if the two shooters were targeting a particular student or students.

Violent posts

Police are now conducting an investigation to determine other factors that triggered the gun attack, especially that investigators are receiving reports that the attack was planned.

During the initial search of their social media accounts, Co said investigators discovered that one of the gunmen was posting violent contents prior to the attack.

“Upon verification of the social media accounts of one of the suspects, our investigators saw violent videos pertaining to guns, video of firing a gun so it’s obvious that there was a plan,” said Co.

He said they are also looking into reports that the shirt of one of the gunmen was similar to those who engaged in similar attacks abroad.

“We are checking. This could be some of our students imitating what happened in other countries like the United States, said Co.