Seven minors rescued from alleged mass shooting plot via online game
Seven minors were rescued after being allegedly recruited through an online game to carry out a school mass shooting plot.
The Philippine National Police said that its Anti-Cybercrime Group received intelligence information from international law enforcement about suspicious activities in the online gaming community.
The identified minors were reportedly aged seven to 17. One of them, alias "Tony," a grade six student, made a post online saying, "I will burn down my school," per a report on GMA News' Resibo.
According to his school's guidance counselor, Tony was not known to be violent. He added that the student's alarming post may have been influenced by the online game Roblox. He explained that Tony received a link that let him enter a chatroom with foreign players, where they follow a "reward system" for completing tasks assigned by others.
PBGen Atty. Wilson Asueta of the PNP-ACG shared that they learned players use a separate online messaging platform outside the game, where the "possible mind conditioning" happens.
Meanwhile, PNP-ACG spokesperson PLT Wallen Arancillo said that upon investigation, minors follow a certain "influencer" or talk with predators via chatrooms. They were also redirected to a website, where minors are exposed to media featuring violent acts such as shootings, beatings, and terroristic actions like bombings and threats.
Arancillo added that these predators in a certain gaming community groom minors to commit violent acts, including burning down a school, attacking classmates, and taking their own lives afterward. Investigators also found that other minors have been groomed for the past five years.
Photos of tactical gloves, vests, helmets, and M16A1 rifles, and more were allegedly sent to the students, instructing them to procure these items for the planned attack.
The ACG carried out the rescue mission on Feb. 2 for students who may have been recruited into nihilistic violent extremism. Asueta added that they continue to coordinate with law enforcement agencies in other countries as part of the investigation to track down the extremists preying on children online.
Per a report by The Philippine STAR, a mass shooting was supposed to have been carried out on Feb. 16 in a school in Calabarzon.
During the press conference on Tuesday, March 17, Asueta said that the PNP-ACG will coordinate with local internet service providers to possibly take down the platforms.
He also urged parents to closely monitor their children's access to online games.
Roblox hasn't issued an official statement as of this writing, but assured that they will investigate the matter.
