The gunman who killed at least 12 people, including two children, in an attack in a small Montenegrin town died of injuries after attempting suicide on Thursday, the 2nd of January, Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said, as the government declared three days of national mourning from Thursday, report the BBC and Reuters.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic described the shooting as a “terrible tragedy” and called it a “consequence of unsettled interpersonal relations”.
The shooter, identified by police as 45-year-old Aleksandar Martinovic, attempted suicide near his home in Cetinje after police surrounded him.
“When he realised, he was in a hopeless situation, he tried to commit suicide. He did not die of his injuries on the spot, but during transport to hospital,” Saranovic told Montenegrin state broadcaster RTCG.
Martinovic fled after opening fire on Wednesday afternoon at a restaurant in the town of Cetinje, 38 km west of the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, where he killed four people.
According to Interior Minister Saranovic, the shooter killed members of his family, two children of the restaurant owner, aged 10 and 13, and the owner.
The shooter then went on to three other locations, killing at least six more people, including two children, police said. Four other people suffered life-threatening injuries.
Late on Wednesday night, police director Lazar Scepanovic said the suspect was believed to have been drinking heavily before the shooting. The Montenegrin Prime Minister said that there had been a brawl before the shooting.
Police said the shooting was unlikely to be linked to organised crime, adding that Martinovic had a history of possessing illegal weapons.
In Montenegro, where the gun culture is deeply rooted, mass shootings are rare. In 2022, a man killed several people, including children, in Cetinje as a result of a family dispute.
Despite strict gun laws, the Western Balkans – Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and northern Macedonia – still have many weapons. Most of them come from the bloody wars of the 1990s, but some weapons even date back to the First World War.
Prime Minister Spajic said the authorities would consider tightening the criteria for keeping and carrying firearms, including the possibility of a total ban.