Montenegro town in shock at second mass shooting

A man shot dead 12 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro before dying from self-inflicted injuries early yesterday in one of the tiny Balkan nation's worst mass killings.

The attacker, 45-year-old Aleksandar Aco Martinovic, initially killed four people when he opened fire after a brawl at a restaurant in Cetinje on Wednesday.

He then shot dead eight people, including two children, at three other locations.

He was cornered near his home in the town and tried to kill himself, then died of his injuries on the way to hospital.

The incident is the second shooting in three years in the same town 38 kilometers west of the capital Podgorica. In 2022 a gunman killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot dead.

Martinovic had been drinking heavily and had a history of illegal weapons possession, police said.

After an altercation with other diners, he went home, took a weapon, returned to the restaurant and started shooting. Four other people suffered life-threatening injuries during the rampage, and one remains in a critical condition.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajic called the rampage a "terrible tragedy" and declared three days of national mourning.

REUTERS