The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday said it will coordinate with the Philippine National Police (PNP) on security measures after a minor accidentally killed himself with his father’s service firearm in school.
DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte ordered their undersecretaries to direct regional offices and schools division offices to coordinate with their police counterparts to identify schools where they can help with spot checking of bags.
Authorities said the 12-year-old boy was playing with a 9mm Beretta in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, when it suddenly went off. He was taken to the hospital but later died.
The PNP said on Friday it would investigate the incident.
The boy took the gun from a cabinet at home and brought it to school and was playing with it inside a comfort room when it went off and hit him in the head, reports said.
The PNP would give the child’s family time to grieve before looking into how the boy gained access to the gun, PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Redrico Maranan.
The student’s father – with the rank of executive master sergeant – is assigned at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. Local authorities said the father was at home at the time of the accident, reports said.
In a separate incident, police arrested a suspect in the bomb threat at the Ponciano Bernardo High School, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said Friday.
Officers at the Cubao Police Station identified the suspect as Elfrank Emil Anthony Bacle Kadusale, 22, a resident of Barangay San Martin De Pores.
Radio dzBB said the suspect, a student of Alternative Learning System (ALS), made the bomb threat “just for fun.”
Classes at the school were suspended on Thursday morning owing to the bomb threat.
In the past few days, bomb threats were also reported at New Era Elementary School, and San Francisco High School in Quezon City.
