By Stevo Vasiljevic
CETINJE, Montenegro (Reuters) -A man shot dead 12 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro before turning his gun on himself early on Thursday, authorities said, in one of the Balkan nation's worst mass killings.
The attacker, named by police as 45-year-old Aco Martinovic, initially shot dead four people at a restaurant in Cetinje on Wednesday afternoon after an altercation.
He then shot dead eight people, including two children and his sister, at three other locations, police director Lazar Scepanovic told a press conference in the capital Podgorica.
"All the victims were his godfathers, friends ... he killed his own sister, with whom he had good relations and with whom he spent New Year's Eve," Scepanovic said.
He said police initially had misleading information about the site of the first shooting and went to a place 3 km (two miles) away.
It was the second mass shooting in less than three years in the same town, 38 km (24 miles) west of the capital Podgorica. In August 2022, a gunman killed 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead.
After being cornered by officers near his home in the town, Martinovic tried to kill himself, then died of his wounds on the way to hospital in the early hours of Thursday, Scepanovic said.
"When commanded by officers to drop his weapon, he turned the gun against his body and fired," he said.
Police found an illegally owned handgun and 90 more rounds on Martinovic's body.
MONTENEGRO IN MOURNING FOR SECOND GUN RAMPAGE IN 3 YEARS
There were few people on the streets in Cetinje on Thursday and all public venues were closed.
"It was dreadful. Such uncertainty, such fear among all the families in Cetinje. You didn't dare look through the window," 43-year-old resident Slavica Vusurovic told Reuters.
"When I ... saw it on TV, I started crying," said Slobo Matic, 64.
Police said Martinovic had been drinking heavily.
In 2022, police found two airguns and a homemade bomb at his home. He was sentenced to three months in jail but appealed and court proceedings were still ongoing at the time of the shooting.
He was also ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Four other people suffered life-threatening wounds during Wednesday's rampage, and one was in a critical condition, said Aleksandar Radovic, director of the Clinical Centre in Podgorica.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic declared three days of national mourning and scheduled a session of the National Security Council for Friday to discuss the aftermath of the shooting and how to restrict illegal weapons, the government said.
The proposals include tighter criteria for owning and carrying firearms, and recruitment of more police officers.
However, stricter gun controls would be likely to face stiff opposition. All the Western Balkan countries - Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia - are awash with weapons, mostly from the wars of the 1990s.