At least 10 dead in mass shooting in Montenegro, suspect kills himself | News of the Gunfight

The suspect in the shooting incident in the town of Cetinje shot himself in the head after being stopped by the police.

Two children were among at least 10 people killed in a shooting that began at a restaurant in the small town of Cetinje in Montenegro and continued in three different locations, authorities said.

The local man suspected of being the shooter, identified by the police as Aleksandar Martinovic, 45, was confirmed to have died on Thursday morning after shooting himself and succumbing to his injuries while being rushed to the hospital.

The police surrounded the suspect near his home in Cetinje. When the police ordered him to “put down his weapon, he shot himself in the head,” the country’s police chief, Lazar Scepanovic, told the media.

“They tried to take him to a clinic, but he ended up dying from his injuries,” he said.

In a social media post confirming the suspect’s death, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said the mass killings “cast our country in darkness”.

“This senseless act has caused immeasurable sadness and pain to each and every one of us. There are no words of condolence,” said Spajic.

Montenegro’s national security council will consider “all options” after the attack, including a total ban on carrying weapons, the prime minister said, adding that the country will observe three days of national mourning.

Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic told reporters that the two children killed in the incident, which began on Wednesday night, were the children of the owner of the restaurant where the shooting began. Its owner was also killed, he said.

The shooter “killed members of his family,” the minister said, adding that the suspect was thought to have been drinking heavily before the violence.

Four people who were seriously injured in the incident were reportedly fighting for their lives in a hospital in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica.

The suspect, who media reports say has a history of illegal possession of weapons and received a suspended sentence in 2005 for an act of violence, fled after the shootings and was at large in Cetinje, a small town in a valley surrounded by hills 38km (23.6 miles) west of Podgorica.

The roads leading to and from the city were closed as police filled the streets before they surrounded the suspect near his home.

The mass shooting was the second shooting in three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. The attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, in August 2022 before he was shot dead by a bystander, the Associated Press reported.

Montenegro, with a population of just over 620,000, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally own weapons.

Organized crime and corruption are two of the biggest problems plaguing Montenegro, which the authorities have promised to deal with under pressure from the European Union, which the small country wants to join.