Police officers and civil protection units secure a crime scene after a gunman killed several people in the village of Bajice near Cetinje, Montenegro, on January 1, 2025.—AFP photo

International Desk : Two children were among at least 10 people killed in a mass shooting that started at a restaurant in the small town of Cetinje in Montenegro and continued at three different locations, authorities said.

A local man suspected of carrying out the shootings, identified by police as Aleksandar Martinovic, 45, was confirmed to have died early on Thursday morning after turning the gun on himself and dying from his injuries while being transported to hospital.

Police had surrounded the suspect near his home in Cetinje. When police commanded him “to lay down his weapon, he shot himself in the head”, the country’s 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,” he said.

In a post on social media confirming that the suspected gunman had died, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said the mass killing had “shrouded our country in black”.

“This senseless act has caused immeasurable sadness and bitterness in each of us. There are no words of comfort,” Spajic said.

Montenegro’s national security council will now consider “all options” in the aftermath of the attack, including a complete ban on the possession of weapons, the prime minister said, adding the country will observe three days of national mourning.

Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic told journalists that the two minors killed in the attacks, which started on Wednesday night, were children of the owner of the restaurant where the shooting spree began. The owner was also killed, he said.

The shooter had “killed members of his own family”, the minister said, adding that the suspect was thought to have been drinking heavily before the rampage.

Four people seriously wounded in the attack were reported to be fighting for their lives in a hospital in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica.

The suspect, who media reports said had a history of illegal weapons possession and received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behaviour, had fled after the shootings and was at large in Cetinje, a small valley town surrounded by rugged hills some 38km (23.6 miles) west of Podgorica.

All the roads in and out of the town had been blocked as police swarmed the streets before surrounding the suspect near his home.

The mass shooting was the second gun rampage over the past three years in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital. An attacker also killed 10 people, including two children, in August 2022 before he was shot and killed by a passerby, The Associated Press news agency reports.

Montenegro, which has a population of just over 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.

Organised crime and corruption are two major issues also plaguing Montenegro, which authorities have pledged to tackle under pressure from the European Union that the tiny nation aspires to join.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies