2 days Ago
A GUNMAN WHO who opened fire at a restaurant in southern Montenegro killed a total of 12 people, including two children, according to authorities. The man launched a shooting spree in a restaurant near the city of Cetinje that spanned several locations, authorities said. Police launched an hours-long manhunt for the suspect, and police chief Lazar Scepanovic later told reporters that the man had killed himself when surrounded.
The country’s prime minister said the state needs to ask itself “who should be allowed to possess firearms in Montenegro” following the attacks, with approximately 245,000 firearms in circulation in a country of just 620,000 people. While mass shootings are rare in the Balkan nation – nestled between Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, across the Adriatic Sea from Italy – it saw similar levels of violence in 2022 when a man murdered 10 Cetinje residents in broad daylight before being killed. In this latest killing spree, which started around 5:30 pm local time (4:30 pm Ireland time) in Bajice village near Cetinje, the 45-year-old gunned down at least 10 people, two of whom were aged 10 and 13, according to the police.
Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said he had also “killed members of his own family”. “A terrible tragedy has struck all of us in Cetinje, in the village of Bajice,” Prime Minister Milojko Spajic told state broadcaster RTCG. Four people were also seriously wounded and transported to a hospital in the capital Podgorica, though police chief Scepanovic later said their lives were “no longer in danger”.
Scepanovic said the suspect “had consumed alcoholic beverages all day” before the incident between him and another restaurant guest. He then “went home, took a weapon, used firearms and killed four people at one location”, and then went to three other places. The government declared three days of national mourning from Thursday.
An earlier police statement had identified the shooter as “A.M., 45′′.
Ruling out a “showdown between organised criminal groups”, the police also said the firearms used were illegal. Prime minister Spajic told state broadcaster RTCG the incident was a “restaurant fight” which spiralled out of control and that he would be tightening the country’s criteria for firearms possession. “It was simply a restaurant fight where guns were drawn and everything went in a different direction in which it should not have gone,” he said.
“This is a tragedy after which we must ask ourselves who should be allowed to possess firearms in Montenegro,” said Spajic. President Jakov Milatovic said he was “shocked and shaken by this tragedy that has cast a shadow over our Cetinje”. “Our thoughts tonight are with the families who lost their loved ones and the citizens of Cetinje,” Milatovic said on social media platform X.
“The whole of Montenegro feels and shares your pain. We pray and hope for the recovery of all the wounded.”.
