New Year marked by mass attacks. 12 dead in Montenegro, 2 were children

A gunman shot dozens of people during an attack in a small town in the eastern European country. Murderer committed suicide.

A man killed four people on Wednesday afternoon in a restaurant in Cetinje, a small town located 38 km west of Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, reports .

The shooter will be Aleksandar Martinovic, 45 years old. He then traveled to three other locations, killing at least eight more people, including two children, according to the police. There are four injured. In total, the death toll now stands at 12.

Police do not believe the shooting was related to organized crime.

Martinovic tried to kill himself shortly after being cornered by police. He was unable to do so immediately, but after being transported to the hospital ended up dying due to self-inflicted injuries.

The suspect was reportedly sentenced to a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior and had appealed his last conviction for illegal possession of weapons, says .

At the end of the afternoon, the police director, Lazar Scepanovicsaid it was thought the suspect had drunk long before the shooting.

Montenegrin Prime MinisterMilojko Spajicsaid there had been a dispute before the shooting. The prime minister called the attack a “terrible tragedy” and declared three days of national mourning. President Jakov Milatovic also says he is “horrified”.

The authorities will consider stricter criteria for possession and carrying of firearmsincluding the possibility of a total weapons ban, the prime minister also assured.

According to CNN, the country with around 600,000 inhabitants, as well as other Balkan countries, has Gun culture is very deep-rooted. It is common in the country for people to have weapons at home, and many still date back to the 90s: they date back to the struggles for independence from the USSR.

Also in 2022, in the same city, Cetinje, there was another armed attack that killed 11 people, one of them also a child.

This morning, the world woke up to the news of two other attacks, believed to have had a terrorist motive, in the USA, which have already caused 16 deaths. One of them was caused by a driver carrying dozens of people. The second consisted of