CETINJE (MONTENEGRO), Jan 2: Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself.
At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said. This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years.
The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Aco Martinovic, killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner’s children and his own family members, officials have said.
The attacker, who first fled after the rampage, was later located and surrounded by police. He died after shooting himself in the head, Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said.
Residents of Cetinje were stunned and grief-stricken. Vanja Popovic, whose relatives are among the victims, said that “we are all in shock.”
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“How can I feel after this?” Popovic said. “No one expected it. You can’t even ask anyone anything.”
Police had dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town, which is located about 30 kilometres northwest of Podgorica, the capital. All roads in and out of the city were blocked for hours as police swarmed the streets.
Saranovic said that the shooter had died while being taken to a hospital in the capital and succumbed from the “severity of his injuries.”
Officials have said that the attacker was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted. He then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5:30 pm.
Prosecutor Andrijana Nastic said today that the attacker went to six locations during the shooting rampage, including the last one, where he shot himself.
Four men were killed at the bar, Nastic said. The shooter then moved on to another location where he killed four more people, and then two children at a third site. He then went on to kill two more people at two other locations before eventually shooting himself, Nastic said.
“Further investigation will determine the exact circumstances of the events,” she added. (Agencies)
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