At least 10 killed in mass shooting in Montenegro, suspect kills himself

Montenegro's interior minister has said at least 10 people, including two children, were killed in a shooting in the western city of Cetinje.

The shooter, who was on the run, also seriously wounded four people, said Minister Danilo Saranovic at a news conference on Wednesday.

He said, "At this moment, we are focused on arresting him."

He labelled the incident a "consequence of disturbed interpersonal relations", without elaborating.

The initial local media death toll in the shooting that followed a bar brawl stood at seven fatalities.

President Jakov Milatovic said he was "shocked and stunned" by the tragedy.

"Instead of holiday joy ... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives," Milatovic said on the social media platform X.

Police identified the attacker as 45-year-old Aco Martinovic.

The RTCG report, which published Martinovic's photo on its website, said he was known for erratic behaviour and had been detained in the past for illegal possession of weapons.

The report said he went home to get his gun and came back to the bar, where he opened fire and killed and wounded several people. He then went to another site where he killed the bar owner's children and a woman, the report added.

Gun culture

Montenegro, which has some 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture, and many people traditionally have weapons.

Wednesday's shooting was the second shooting rampage over the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro's historic capital.

An attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, in August 2022 before he was shot and killed by a passerby in Cetinje.

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Source: TRT