A mass shooting has left 12 dead, including two children, in Cetinje, Montenegro, after 45-year-old Aco Martinović opened fire following a bar brawl. Martinović killed family members, including his sister, the bar owner, and the bar owner’s nephews, before targeting multiple locations around the Balkan town. He killed himself as police closed in.
The shooting took place on Wednesday, with Martinović returning to the bar with a firearm following the brawl. His victims included seven men, three women, and two children. Four others were wounded.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, of the pro-European Union party Europe Now, is exploiting the massacre to push for a ban on private gun ownership. However, there is mounting evidence that law enforcement failures enabled Martinović. He had previously been convicted of violent behavior and illegal weapons possession.
“Most of the victims were people he knew, his closest friends and relatives,” according to Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović. “This criminal act wasn’t planned or organized. It was unpredictable,” he claimed.
Montenegro has declared three days of national mourning, canceling New Year’s festivities.
The incident marks the second mass shooting in Cetinje in recent years. In August 2022, another gunman in the town killed 10 before being killed in a shootout with police and civilians.
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