At least 10 people, including two children, were killed and 4 others seriously injured on Wednesday in a shooting that followed a fight in a bar in a town in western Montenegro, authorities said. The shooter was on the run.
Police identified the attacker as 45-12 months-old Aco Martinovic. He killed the owner of a bar in Cetinje, the bar owner’s children and members of his family, Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said at a press conference.
“Right now our focus is on his arrest,” Saranovic told reporters.
Police deployed special forces to go looking for the attacker in Cetinje, positioned about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of the capital Podgorica. All roads in and out of town were blocked as police filled the streets.
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Saranovic described the suspect as dangerous and urged residents to remain at home.
“The level of rage and brutality shows that sometimes such people… are even more dangerous than members of organized criminal gangs,” Saranovic said.
Police Commissioner Lazar Scepanovic said Martinovic had been in the bar all day with other patrons when the fight broke out. He said Martinovic then returned home, brought a gun and opened fire at about 5:30 p.m
He “killed four people” in the bar, then left after which continued shooting at three more places, Scepanovic said. “He tried to take the lives of four more people and then fled in a vehicle he found.”
He said the suspect received a suspended sentence in 2005 for aggressive behavior and had appealed his most up-to-date conviction for illegal possession of a firearm. Montenegrin media report that he was known for erratic and brutal behavior.
Little Montenegro, with a population of roughly 620,000, is thought for its gun culture, with many people traditionally owning guns.
Wednesday’s shooting was the second in the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. In August 2022, an attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead by a passer-by in Cetinje.
President Jakov Milatovic said he was “shocked and stunned” by the tragedy. “Instead of Christmas joy… we were overcome by sadness at the loss of innocent lives,” Milatovic said on the X social media platform.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic went to the hospital where the injured were treated and announced three days of mourning. He said “all police teams” were trying to find the suspect.
“This is a terrible tragedy that has touched us all,” Spajic said.
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