A man killed at least twelve people, mainly members of his family, by shooting in a restaurant in Montenegro. Two miners were killed. The shooter then committed suicide.
A family argument that turned into a tragedy. During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a family was gathered in a restaurant in a town in southern Montenegro, near Cetinje. According to the Montenegrin Minister of the Interior who spoke on public radio and television (RTCG), a family argument turned tragic when a 45-year-old man “killed several people using firearms” before fleeing the building. At least twelve people died, including two minors. Two are still seriously injured, according to Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, who announced three days of national mourning. The first report showed deaths and four injuries.
“Our thoughts this evening are with the families who lost loved ones and the residents of Cetinje. All of Montenegro feels and shares your pain. We pray for the recovery of all the injured,” the country’s president, Jakov Milatovic, wrote on X .
Umjesto praznine radosti, nad naom Prijestonicom i cijelom Crnom Gorom nadvila se tuga zbog gubitka nevinih ivota.
Zaprepaen sam i potresen ovom tragedijom koja je zavila u crno nae Cetinje, porodice i prijatelje stradalih kojima izraavam svoje iskreno sauee.
Molimo
— Jakov Milatovic (@JakovMilatovic) January 1, 2025
The attacker was caught in his escape by the police. Surrounded, he was asked to drop his weapon, but did not obey and turned his weapon on himself, shooting himself “in the head”, the police chief explained to the press. The police tried to take him to hospital, but he did not survive.
Organized crime trail finally ruled out
The Prime Minister specifies that it was “only a fight in a restaurant, during which weapons were drawn, and which degenerated”. Enough to question “who are those who can have weapons in Montenegro”. It is therefore not a question of the consequences of organized crime which is rife in the region, as the police confirmed in a press release: this tragedy is “not the result of a confrontation between groups belonging to organized crime” .
It must be said that the region is particularly affected by the settling of scores resulting from this organized crime. In Cetinje alone, two people died in June in an explosion targeting suspected gang leaders and a gang member was killed by sniper fire in his garden.