Three people were killed and eight injured in a school shooting at Banga National High School in the southern Philippine province of Mindanao, according to local officials. The attacker, a 16-year-old, shot two students dead and injured eight others before taking his own life, the local mayor, Albert Palencia, told the BBC. The two victims were 14-year-old students, and four of the injured were in critical condition, according to the education department. The incident occurred on Friday afternoon, prompting the education department to express "deeply concerned" about the event. Classes have been suspended across all levels in the municipality of Banga due to the shooting, according to disaster management authorities. The Philippines Red Cross was alerted at 14:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and sent an ambulance with four paramedics to provide emergency care. Police are currently at the scene investigating the incident, local media reported. According to Palencia, the shooter had told friends during a lunchtime conversation on Friday that he would "execute [his] plan" after lunch. His friends laughed, as the shooter was known for joking around, Palencia said. "After lunch, he started shooting students. He hit 10 students before killing himself," he added. This is the third deadly school shooting in the Philippines since June. In June, three students were killed and others injured when classmates opened fire at a high school in central Philippines. In August, a student at a Catholic junior high school in the south shot a classmate dead before taking his own life. While gun crime is common in the Philippines, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Southeast Asia, school shootings are relatively rare. However, this incident marks the third deadly campus shooting in the last four months. South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo called on adult gun owners to store their firearms responsibly and ensure minors cannot access them. "We cannot expect a handful of security personnel to monitor thousands of students. We need to work together because otherwise this will be very difficult for us to address," he told Reuters, highlighting the need for community efforts to prevent such tragedies.