A gunman has killed himself after being surrounded by police who were hunting him after he opened fire in a Montenegro restaurant and shot dead at least 10 people including two children.
Officers had dispatched special troops to search for an armed 45-year-old named in reports as Aco Martinovic in the city of Cetinje, 18 miles northwest of the capital Podgorica.
A statement said the man opened fire in a bar and fled the scene, as civilians were warned he was ‘armed and dangerous’.
Police have now revealed the suspect ‘shot himself in the head’ after being tracked down and surrounded – while Montenegro’s prime minister has vowed to tighten the Balkan country’s firearms laws.
The suspect ‘took the lives of at least 10 people, two of whom were minors’ who were the children of the restaurant owner, Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic said.
The bar owner and relatives of the suspect were also killed.
It was reported that the suspect was in ‘conflict’ with another person at the bar and went home to get a gun before returning and killing several people.
RTCG claimed he went on to a second location and killed the bar owner’s children, along with a woman.
Police said the suspect, named in media reports as Aco Martinovic, has been tracked down officers only to shoot himself in the head
Police officers and civil protection units secure a crime scene after a gunman killed several people
Police and security personnel stand on a street in front of a firetruck near the scene
Mr Saranovic said ‘a number of people were killed’, including the bar owner and his family members, as well as the shooter’s relatives – but did not give a definitive death toll.
President Jakov Milatovic said he was ‘shocked and stunned’ by the tragedy, writing on X: ‘Instead of holiday joy we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives.’
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic went to the hospital where the wounded were being treated and announced three days of mourning. from Thursday.
‘This is a terrible tragedy that has affected us all,’ said Mr Spajic. ‘All police teams are out.’
Police launched an hours-long manhunt for the suspect, who ‘shot himself in the head’ when he was surrounded, police chief Lazar Scepanovic has now told reporters.
Mr Scepanovic added: ‘An attempt was made to transport him to a clinical centre but he succumbed to his injuries in the meantime.’
Four people were also seriously wounded and transported to a hospital in the capital Podgorica, though Mr Scepanovic later said their lives were ‘no longer in danger’.
The police chief said the suspect ‘had consumed alcoholic beverages all day’ before the incident between him and another restaurant guest.
Police officers and civil protection units secure the crime scene
The gunman killed several people on January 1, 2025 in a village restaurant
Mass shootings are comparatively rare in Montenegro which has a deeply-rooted gun culture
He then ‘went home, took a weapon, used firearms and killed four people at one location’, and then went to three other places, Mr Scepanovic said.
Prime Minister Mr Spajic told state broadcaster RTCG the incident was a ‘restaurant fight’ gone wrong and that he would be tightening the country’s criteria for firearms possession.
‘It was simply a restaurant fight where guns were drawn and everything went in a different direction in which it should not have gone,” he said.
‘This is a tragedy after which we must ask ourselves who should be allowed to possess firearms in Montenegro.’
Mass shootings are comparatively rare in Montenegro which has a deeply-rooted gun culture.
In 2022, 11 people, including two children and a gunman, were killed in a mass shooting in Montenegro, and six others were injured.
Despite strict gun laws, the Western Balkans remain awash with illegal weapons dating back to World War One.
