At least ten people, including two minors, were killed by an armed and drunk man on Wednesday January 1 in southern Montenegro, including the owner of a restaurant in which the suspect had spent the day drinking and members of his family. The suspect, still on the run, is said to have struck in different locations.
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The drama began around 4:30 p.m. UT, when the suspect, born in 1979, “ after arguing with a customer with whom he had spent much of the day, and while drinking large quantities of alcohol, went home, took a gun, and killed four people “, indicated the police chief.
He then went “ in three other locations where he killed the Martinovic family, a member of his own family and two children aged 10 and 13. He tried to kill four other people whose lives are no longer in danger », Specified Lazar Scepanovic during a press briefing.
This 45-year-old man is wanted by the police and the army who invited the inhabitants of Cetinje, south of Montenegroto stay at home.
Three days of national mourning
In a speech in the evening, Prime Minister Milojko Spajic announced a three-day national mourning, on January 2, 3 and 4. “ We are looking for the culprit and we are on the right path “, he stressed.
Evoking “ a fight in a restaurant, during which weapons were drawn, and which escalated », Milojko Spajic also announced new restrictions to come on the possession of firearms. “ This tragedy raises the question of who can have weapons in Montenegro “, he added.
It’s a tragedy what happened in Cetinje, it shocked us all. The shooting took place in the village of Bajice, outside Cetinje. Currently, all our police forces, including the special police, are dispatched to the scene. All police resources we had in Podgorica have been sent to Cetinje, we are still looking for the fugitive. We have good leads. Unfortunately, we also have four injured people, they are in the medical center behind me. Doctors are fighting to save their lives. They are all in the operating room and we hope they will pull through. We hope that the doctors can save their lives, which is what is happening at the moment.
Milojko Spajic, Prime Minister of Montenegro, on RTCG
On site, near the traditional restaurant in which the tragedy took place, the police prevented anyone from approaching in the evening. Dozens of men, police vehicles and at least one ambulance were visible behind the barriers, noted an AFP journalist.
The town of Cetinje regularly faces crime
The police assure in their press release that this shooting was “ not the result of a confrontation between groups belonging to organized crime. »
Organized crime and corruption have long affected Montenegro, and the town of Cetinje has been particularly hard hit in recent months. In June, two people died and three were injured there in an explosion – members of a criminal group, according to police. Among the injured were two other suspected gang members, as well as a female bystander.
After this explosion, the government promised to attack organized crime. But at the end of September, another member of a mafia clan was killed, again in Cetinje, the former royal capital nestled in the hollow of a valley. He was shot and killed by sniper fire while sitting in his backyard.