A man shot dead 10 people, including two children, this Wednesday in Montenegro after a dispute in a restaurant in the city of Cetinje. The police of the Balkan country, which deployed special forces to search for the fugitive, who fled armed, in Cetinje, about 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, Podgorica. Authorities identified the shooter only by his initials, AM, and added that he is 45 years old.
Security forces asked residents of the city, of about 15,000 inhabitants, to stay at home while they locate the suspect. The police statement indicates that the man opened fire in the bar and fled the scene armed.
Police director Lazar Scepanovic declared at a late-night press conference that the attacker killed four people in a restaurant; It then moved to three other locations, killing more people, including two children. The suspect had been drinking heavily for most of the day, Scepanovic said. “The perpetrator of these crimes is in the Cetinje area. The perimeter has narrowed. We will do everything possible to control and arrest this person,” declared the director of the Montenegrin police.
Public television RTCG indicated that the suspect, of whom a photograph has been broadcast, was known for his erratic behavior and had previously been arrested for illegal possession of weapons.
The president, Jakov Milatovic, said he was “shocked and stunned” by the tragedy. “Instead of festive joy… we have been gripped by sadness due to the loss of innocent lives,” Milatovic said on the social network three days of mourning. “It is a terrible tragedy that has affected us all,” Spajic said. “All police teams are in action.”
Mass shootings in Montenegro (population 620,000) are rare but in 2022, 11 people, including two children, were killed in another firearms incident. Despite strict gun ownership laws, many weapons continue to circulate in the Western Balkans, most of them illegal and coming, in part, from the wars of disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.
