Podgorica, Montenegro
Reuters
—

A man shot and killed 12 people in a shooting spree in a small town in Montenegro before dying of self-inflicted injuries early Thursday, authorities said. It was one of the worst mass murders in the tiny Balkan state.

The attacker, named by police as 45-year-old Aleksandar Aco Martinovic, initially killed four people when he opened fire after a fight at a restaurant in Cetinje on Wednesday afternoon.

He then shot eight people, including two children, in three other locations, said prosecutor Andrijana Nastic.

The victims had close ties to the shooter, police said. “All the victims were his godparents and friends… the motive is still unknown,” said national police director Lazar Scepanovic.

It was the second shooting in less than three years in the same town 38 km (24 miles) west of the capital Podgorica. In August 2022, a gunman killed ten people, including two children, before being shot.

Martinovic was cornered by officers near his home in the city and attempted to take his own life. Then he died of his wounds on the way to the hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning, said Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic.

“When he saw that he was in a hopeless situation, he attempted suicide. He did not succumb to his injuries on the spot, but during transport to the hospital,” Saranovic told Montenegrin state broadcaster RTCG.

There were few people on the streets in Cetinje on Thursday and all public venues were closed.

“It was terrible. Such uncertainty, such fear among all families in Cetinje. “They didn’t dare look through the window,” 43-year-old resident Slavica Vusurovic told Reuters.

“When I saw it on TV, I started crying… This is the second tragedy of this kind in Cetinje,” said Slobo Matic, 64.

Police said Martinovic drank heavily and had a history of possessing illegal weapons. After an argument with customers at the restaurant, he went home, grabbed a gun, returned to the restaurant and started shooting, police said.

Four other people suffered life-threatening injuries in Wednesday’s shooting, one of whom remains in critical condition, said Aleksandar Radovic, the director of the clinical center in Podgorica.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic called the rampage a “terrible tragedy” and declared three days of national mourning. President Jakov Milatovic said he was “horrified” by the attack.

Spajic has scheduled a meeting of the country’s National Security Council for Friday to discuss the aftermath of the shooting and measures to detect and confiscate illegal weapons, the government said in a statement.

The proposed measures would include a new gun law with stricter criteria for owning and carrying firearms and hiring more police officers, it said.

Stricter gun controls would likely face resistance in Montenegro, which has a deep-rooted gun culture.

Despite strict gun laws, the Western Balkans, consisting of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, continue to be full of weapons. Most are from the wars of the 1990s, but some date back to as far away as the First World War.

This story has been updated.