At least 10 people, including two children, were killed and four others injured Wednesday in a shooting that followed a bar fight in a Western movie. Montenegrin city, officials said. The shooter was on the run.
Police identified the attacker as 45-year-old Aco Martinovic. He killed the bar owner in the town of Cetinjethe children of the bar owner and members of his own family, Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic told a news conference.
“Right now we are focused on arresting him,” Saranovic said.
Police dispatched special troops to search for the attacker in Cetinje, located about 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, Podgorica.
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A release said the man fled the scene armed after opening fire on the bar.
President Jakov Milatovic said he was “shocked and stunned” by the tragedy. “Instead of holiday joy… we were gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Milatovic said on social media platform X.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic went to the hospital where the injured were being treated and announced three days of mourning.
“This is a terrible tragedy that has affected us all,” Spajic said. “All the police teams are out.”
Tiny Montenegro, with a population of some 620,000, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally own weapons.
Wednesday’s shooting was the second shooting rampage in the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. An attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, in August 2022 before being shot dead by a passerby in Cetinje.
RTCG Report, which published Martinovic’s photo on its website, said he was known for erratic behavior and had been arrested in the past for illegal possession of weapons.
The report says he went home to get his gun and returned to the bar where he opened fire and killed and injured several people. He then went to another location where he killed the bar owner’s children and a woman, the report added.
The police called on residents to remain calm and stay at home, thus ruling out any clashes between criminal gangs.
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