By Stevo Vasiljevic
CETINJE, Montenegro (Reuters) -A gunman killed at the very least 10 individuals in a rampage on a small city in Montenegro on Wednesday, police mentioned, one of many tiny Balkan nation’s worst mass killings.
A forty five-year-old man, recognized by police as Aleksandar Martinovic, was on the run after opening fireplace at a restaurant within the city of Cetinje the place he killed 4 individuals.
The shooter moved on to a few different areas, gunning down a member of the family, two youngsters and three different individuals, police mentioned. 4 extra individuals suffered life-threatening accidents.
The suspect, who media studies mentioned had a historical past of unlawful weapons possession, was at giant round Cetinje, a small valley city surrounded by rugged hills some 38 km (23.6 miles) west of the Montenegrin capital Podgorica.
A reporter with the state-run broadcaster RTCG mentioned police deployed a drone with thermal imaginative and prescient to seek for the suspect. Particular police and anti-terrorist items had been additionally trying to find the suspect within the hills.
“The perimeter is narrowed. … We are going to do every thing to place this particular person below management and apprehend him,” police director Lazar Scepanovic mentioned.
He mentioned the suspect was thought to have been consuming closely earlier than the taking pictures. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic mentioned there had been a brawl the place pistols had been fired.
Police mentioned the taking pictures was not considered linked to organised crime.
Mass shootings are comparatively uncommon in Montenegro, which has a deeply rooted gun tradition. In 2022, additionally in Cetinje, 11 individuals, together with two youngsters and a gunman, had been killed in a mass assault.
Wednesday’s incident shocked the nation of 605,000 individuals. Spajic referred to as the shootings a “horrible tragedy” and declared three days of nationwide mourning.
Montenegro’s president, Jakov Milatovic, mentioned he was “horrified” by the assault. “We’re praying and hoping for the restoration of the wounded,” Milatovic mentioned in an announcement.
Cetinje was eerily quiet with its snow-covered streets empty apart from regulation enforcement. Police urged individuals to stay inside their properties and video confirmed law enforcement officials cordoning off a neighbourhood the place lamp posts had been adorned with festive lights.
Regardless of strict gun legal guidelines, the Western Balkans composed of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, stay awash with weapons. Most are from the bloody wars within the Nineties, however some date again even to World Conflict One.
Spajic mentioned authorities would think about tightening standards for proudly owning and carrying firearms, together with the potential of a whole ban on weapons.
