Montenegro shooting spree kills 12

PODGORICA (AFP) — A gunman who started a shooting spree at a restaurant in southern Montenegro killed a total of 12 people, including two children, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

“Twelve people were killed, of whom two were children,” prosecutor Andrijana Nastic told reporters in Cetinje, raising the previous toll of at least 10 from Wednesday’s attack.

Two of the victims of the 45-year-old gunman were aged 10 and 13, according to the police.

Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said he had also “killed members of his own family.”

Police launched an hours-long manhunt for the suspect, who “shot himself in the head” when he was surrounded, police chief Lazar Scepanovic told reporters.

“An attempt was made to transport him to a clinical center but he succumbed to his injuries in the meantime,” Scepanovic said.

The killing spree started around 5:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday, in Bajice village near the southern town of Cetinje, according to police.

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.

“Each location was inspected and evidence was taken.”

“Prosecutor and police actions are ongoing, to determine the circumstances under which the event took place,” she said.

Four people were also seriously wounded and transported to a hospital in the capital, Podgorica.

The lives of three of them were still in danger, Health Minister Vojislav Simun said on Thursday.

The police ruled out a “showdown between organized criminal groups.”

They said firearms used were illegal.

The government declared three days of national mourning from Thursday.

Restaurant fight

Prime Minister Spajic told state broadcaster RTCG the incident was a “restaurant fight” gone wrong 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,” Spajic said.

Police had sealed off the area surrounding the restaurant, said an Agence France-Presse photographer. Dozens of officers, police vehicles and at least one ambulance were at the scene.

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.”

According to the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss research program, there are approximately 245,000 firearms in circulation in Montenegro.

But mass shootings are rare in the Balkan nation of more than 620,000 people.