Senate Hearing Probes 'Adult Groomer' Influence in Tacloban School Shooting

MANILA, Philippines — The two minor suspects, alias Nash and Rod, in the Tacloban school shooting may have been influenced by an “adult groomer,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday. Hontiveros revealed the potential link during the Senate panel on women, children, family relations, and gender equality hearing on the fatal shooting incident. Citing her office’s findings, Hontiveros showed that a “Sedykh Ryazanov” had correspondence with Nash’s dummy account named “Date Larping.” “In the comment of a “Sedykh Ryazanov,” it was said: “I’ve edited you boy on TikTok. Make sure you delete Discord, Reddit, Telegram so there’s no evidence to be found.” This “Sedykh Ryazanov” is also the suspected adult groomer of these children,” Hontiveros said during her opening statement. According to Hontiveros, both Nash’s dummy profile and Sedykh Ryazanov’s profile have been deactivated, indicating that real people were behind the accounts. The grooming, Hontiveros highlighted, may have occurred through online video games. “There are also many indications that NVEs — nihilistic violent extremism networks — are using games played by young people as recruitment hotbeds, such as Roblox, Minecraft, and Gorebox.” Gorebox has already been temporarily banned in the country after authorities, during the initial investigation, found that one of the suspects played the game before the incident. Hontiveros also pointed out the “KMFDM” shirt Nash was wearing. KMFDM is a European band that was associated with school attacks in the United States after a school shooter was infamously a fan of its music. Furthermore, Hontiveros also mentioned the possibility that a supposed terrorist group from the US, “764,” also influenced the behavior of the two Tacloban shooting suspects. “There are indications that the shooting in Tacloban was influenced by a group called “764”… The modus operandi of this group is to find vulnerable minors online and encourage them to do shocking and horrific things,” the senator explained. Based on information from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, leaders of “764” provide a sense of belonging to its victims before pushing them “to create graphic pornography, to harm family pets, to cut themselves with sharp objects, or to even die by suicide.” Notably, “764” was created by 15-year-old Bradley Cadenhead, who claimed that an individual he met through Minecraft helped him start the group.