Police officers and civil protection units secure a crime scene after a gunman killed 10 people in the village of Bajice near Cetinje, Montenegro, on January 1, 2025. PHOTO: AFP
Police in Montenegro have launched a manhunt after a gunman killed at least 12 people, including two children, in a killing spree that started in a village restaurant near the southern town of Cetinje, reports AFP.
The suspect "took the lives of at least 10 people, two of whom were minors", Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic told journalists.
The two minors killed were the children of the restaurant owner, who was also killed, he added. The shooter had also "killed members of his own family".
Shooter ends own life after incident
The gunman died after shooting himself, police said. Police surrounded the shooter and when they commanded him "to lay down his weapon, he shot himself in the head," police chief Lazar Scepanovic told reporters. "An attempt was made to transport him to a clinical centre but he succumbed to his injuries in the meantime."
"A terrible tragedy has struck all of us in Cetinje, in the village of Bajice near Cetinje" Prime Minister Milojko Spajic told RTCG.
Four people seriously wounded in the attack were fighting for their lives in hospital in the capital Podgorica, Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said.
The government declared three days of national mourning from Thursday.
"All police teams, special units, and all available forces are in Cetinje," the prime minister said.
Police had intially said that the killings took place in a restaurant in the village of Bajice. But police chief Lazar Scepanovic later told reporters that people were killed at four different locations.
The suspect had "consumed alcoholic beverages all day" before the incident between him and another guest, said Scepanovic.
He then "went home, took a weapon, used firearms and killed four people at one location".
