Suspected adult 'groomer' told Tacloban shooter to delete account, wipe evidence

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July 1, 2026 | 12:06pm

MANILA, Philippines — An adult suspected of "grooming" one of the teenage gunmen behind the shooting in Tacloban City ordered the student to erase his accounts and destroy evidence after the attack.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate women and children committee, shared this on Wednesday, July 1 in her opening statement during the panel’s inquiry into the June 22 attack that left three students dead and 20 others injured.

The senator said her team had traced a Facebook account using the pseudonym "Sedykh Ryazanov" — believed to belong to the adult groomer — through interactions and comments left on the profile of one of the attackers, identified only as alias "Nash."

The account, Hontiveros said, told the boy to scrub his digital trail.

"Na-edit na kita boy sa TikTok. Make sure na-delete mo ang Discord, Reddit, Telegram para walang evidence mahanap," the comment read, according to a screengrab shown by Hontiveros.

The profiles of "Nash," "Sedykh Ryazanov" and another account tied to the other teenage gunman were active on Meta platforms but have since been deactivated, Hontiveros said. This is proof, she argued, that real people operated them. 

The senator stressed the findings were at this time mere leads and that full details had been forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation for verification.

"It is possible that there is a wider network and it needs to be caught before there are more victims," Hontiveros said in Filipino. "That is why we have already sent the complete details of this to the NBI."

Opened fire. Two Grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, opened fire inside San Jose National High School in Tacloban City on the morning of June 22, killing three classmates and wounding 20 others in one of the deadliest school attacks in recent Philippine history. 

One suspect was subdued by teachers and students at the scene; the other fled to a house about 200 meters away and was caught after a manhunt.

Both boys are in custody. The Police Regional Office 8 filed complaints on June 23 against the 15-year-old, identified only as "Rod," for three counts of murder, three counts of frustrated murder and multiple counts of serious physical injuries.  

The 14-year-old, exempt from criminal liability under the same law, was placed under the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Influence by online group. At this stage, there are already indications the two students acted under the influence of a certain "764" group. 

Hontiveros explained this online network hunts for vulnerable minors and pushes them to commit horrific and violent acts, including huring family pets, harming themselves and producing graphic pornography. 

The group typically befriends a child and offers them a sense of belonging first before steering them toward darker acts, Hontiveros said.

"If a child doesn't feel respect and acceptance or belonging in real life, those gaps are filled by harmful online communities," the senator said.

Canada has designated 764 a terrorist group, Hontiveros noted, while the United States' FBI and US Department of Justice have called it a national security threat. 

US prosecutors have also brought a string of child-exploitation and terrorism-related cases against alleged members over the past year.

A photo of "Nash," Hontiveros added, showed him in a shirt bearing the name of the industrial rock band KMFDM, which she said is not connected to 764 but whose merchandise is used within such communities to pay tribute to the 1999 Columbine High School shooters. 

The Philippine National Police has separately confirmed it was investigating the same shirt for signs the attack was a copycat act.

Meta's head of public policy, lawyer Gio Tiongson, was invited to the hearing on Wednesday and was among the attendees present during the roll call.