By Stevo Vasiljevic
CETINJE, Montenegro (Reuters) -A gunman killed at least 10 people in a rampage on a small town in Montenegro on Wednesday, police said, one of the tiny Balkan nation’s worst mass killings.
A 45-year-old man, identified by police as Aleksandar Martinovic, was on the run after opening fire at a restaurant in the town of Cetinje where he killed four people.
The shooter moved on to three other locations, gunning down a family member, two children and three other people, police said. Four more people suffered life-threatening injuries.
The suspect, who media reports said had a history of illegal weapons possession, was at large around Cetinje, a small valley town surrounded by rugged hills some 38 km (23.6 miles) west of the Montenegrin capital Podgorica.
A reporter with the state-run broadcaster RTCG said police deployed a drone with thermal vision to search for the suspect. Special police and anti-terrorist units were also searching for the suspect in the hills.
“The perimeter is narrowed. … We will do everything to put this person under control and apprehend him,” police director Lazar Scepanovic said.
He said the suspect was thought to have been drinking heavily before the shooting. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said there had been a brawl where pistols were fired.
Police said the shooting was not thought to be connected to organised crime.
Mass shootings are comparatively rare in Montenegro, which has a deeply rooted gun culture. In 2022, also in Cetinje, 11 people, including two children and a gunman, were killed in a mass attack.
Wednesday’s incident shocked the country of 605,000 people. Spajic called the shootings a “terrible tragedy” and declared three days of national mourning.
Montenegro’s president, Jakov Milatovic, said he was “horrified” by the attack. “We are praying and hoping for the recovery of the wounded,” Milatovic said in a statement.
Cetinje was eerily quiet with its snow-covered streets empty except for law enforcement. Police urged people to remain inside their homes and video showed police officers cordoning off a neighbourhood where lamp posts were adorned with festive lights.
Despite strict gun laws, the Western Balkans composed of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, remain awash with weapons. Most are from the bloody wars in the 1990s, but some date back even to World War One.
Spajic said authorities would consider tightening criteria for owning and carrying firearms, including the possibility of a complete ban on weapons.
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