Philippine police thwart Roblox-linked school shooting plot by 7 teens

2026.03.19 04:50 Philippine police thwarted a school shooting plot by radicalised teens and seized offensive materials from the suspects. Photo: Handout Philippine police have foiled a school shooting and rescued seven students radicalised by “foreigners” online to stage an attack in Laguna province near Manila, as calls grow to enhance parental safeguards against digital threats. Officers rounded up the suspects – five boys and two girls, aged 12 to 17 – on February 2 after receiving a tip-off about the alleged plot they intended to carry out a fortnight later, the Philippine Star reported. The teens, who were turned over to social workers, came into contact with their “foreign” handlers on the gaming platform Roblox. They subsequently invited the students to private chat rooms, exposing them to videos of shootings, beatings, accidents and beheadings, according to GMA’s Resibo programme. The indoctrination prompted one of the boys to post an “I will burn down my school” message on social media. Phones seized from the group revealed photos of tactical vests and gloves, as well as an assault rifle that police said the teens were being urged to buy. Police also found images related to Hitler, as well as T-shirts emblazoned with phrases such as “No Lives Matter” and other slogans associated with the gunmen behind the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and a 2018 mass shooting at a school in Crimea. Brigadier General Wilson Asueta, acting director of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, said the students were close to executing their plan and that the “only thing they lacked was weapons”. “[We call on parents] to constantly guard their children who are always on the internet, especially those involved in platform gaming … there are players there you don’t know,” he told reporters on Tuesday. Locals gather near the site of a 2018 mass shooting at a vocational school in Kerch, Crimea. Photo: EPA-EFE Carlos Nazareno, a game developer and digital rights

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