Philippines Official Blames Roblox After Deadly Zamboanga School Shooting
- Sagar Mankar
- 46 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A top Philippine official is now pointing fingers at Roblox following a deadly school shooting in Zamboanga City.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla claims the shooter behind the Ateneo de Zamboanga University tragedy may have been influenced by the popular gaming platform.
The incident took place on August 18, 2026, and it's already the second fatal school shooting in the country in less than two months.
What Actually Happened at Ateneo de Zamboanga?
The attack unfolded when a 14-year-old junior high student opened fire inside a classroom building. He used two pistols that belonged to his father, a Bureau of Customs official who has since been suspended from his post.
One student has died, and reports on the number of injured range from a few to more than 20.
The shooter livestreamed parts of the rampage using a body camera strapped to his chest, moving between classrooms in what witnesses described as a first-person shooter style. He later took his own life.
Officials describe the shooter as an honor student with zero history of behavioral problems.
The shooting came after a June attack at a public high school in Tacloban City, central Philippines, where at least three students were killed and around 20 others injured when two classmates opened fire on campus. Police identified one of the suspects, also a 14-year-old, as an avid player of GoreBox, a physics-based sandbox game focused on destruction, weapons, explosives, and unrestrained violent scenarios.
Shortly after the incident, Philippine authorities blocked access to GoreBox nationwide.
Why Is Roblox Being Blamed?
This is where things get controversial. Remulla addressed the media at a briefing in Camp Crame, and his comments were pretty direct.
“We still have to do forensic examination on the gadgets of the shooter. We still don’t know with certainty,” he said, before adding, “But, it is with a great degree of confidence that he was influenced by the game of Roblox again because of the manner in which he did it.”
“If you look at what happened in the shooting. It's almost exactly the same as a video game. When I first saw it, I thought it was a video game," Remulla said. "In fact, he was able to show off his guns. He showed a first-person perspective. So, it really shows the undue influence of video games."
According to Remulla, “Roblox in itself is not a dangerous game. It is the chat group that is inside it. That’s where radicalization comes in.”
Witnesses apparently told investigators the shooter had been playing Roblox before the attack. This isn't the first time the platform has come up in connection to violence in the Philippines either. Earlier this year, seven teens were linked to an alleged foiled plot targeting a school in Calabarzon, and Roblox was mentioned there too.
Remulla is pushing for a total ban on Roblox in the Philippines because he thinks it has a particular “link to the dark web.”
As per reports, some “nihilistic violent extremism” (NVE) groups have been recruiting young people through gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara warned that kids using chat features on Roblox might think they're talking to another child when it's really a predator on the other end.
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