Police said six schoolchildren ages 10-12, were also wounded in the attack which occurred in the village of Talisayan, about 20 kilometers west of Zamboanga. The attacker, Felin Mateo, was himself killed after angry villagers, armed with knives and machetes, overpowered the man and killed him.
Police said one student and a teacher and a grand father who tried to save his niece were killed in the attack. Those wounded — four children, mostly Grade 5 students from Talisayan Elementary School, and two teachers — were rushed to hospital.
“It was horrible. The man was attacking the children and we were able to grab the knife and overpowered him. He stabbed the teacher first and then ran on the second floor of the school building and barged in on class room and started knifing the poor kids,” one villager said.
The motive of the attack was unknown, but the village chieftain Pinpin Pareja said the attacker was an ex-convict. “We rushed to the school after receiving the report. We still don’t know what triggered him to attack the children,” she said.
“I saw the man stabbed our teacher and we all ran upstairs and hid inside the rest room,” one of the children who escaped the attack told reporters.
An armed school guard tried to fight off the attacker, but could not do anything as he was only armed with a stone. “He cannot do anything. He just threw stones at the man,” another pupil said.
