(2 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cetinje, Montenegro – 2 January 2025
1. Street scene
2. Older man walking two twins
3. SOUNDBITE (Montenegrin) Vesko Milosevic, pensioner and resident of Cetinje: ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++
"We feel like..it’s a disaster. It’s happening to us again, after two years (speaks about a shooting spree two years ago). That was a tragedy here, and now again. We don’t know…we are lost. We are all brothers, cousins, godfathers, friends, this is a very small town. And now so many people killed. I don’t know what to say, believe me."
4. Empty streets
5. SOUNDBITE (Montenegrin) Vesko Milosevic, pensioner and resident of Cetinje: ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++
"I knew all of these people personally, also the attacker. I think when he did that – he was out of his mind. What do I know, he went from place to place and killed people. It’s a catastrophe."
6. Milosevic walking
7. Various of shooting scene and police tape
8. Flags at half mast
STORYLINE:
Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself.
At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said.
This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years.
The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Aco Martinović, killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner’s children and his own family members, officials have said.
The attacker, who first fled after the rampage, was later located and surrounded by police.
He died after shooting himself in the head, Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović said.
Residents of Cetinje were stunned and grief-stricken.
Vesko Milosevic, a resident, described the shooting as a "tragedy" and a "catastrophe".
"This is a very small town. And now so many people killed. I don’t know what to say," he said, adding that he knew the victims and the attacker.
Police had dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town, which is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Podgorica, the capital.
All roads in and out of the city were blocked for hours as police swarmed the streets.
Šaranović said that the shooter had died while being taken to a hospital in the capital.
Officials have said that the attacker was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted.
He then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5:30 p.m.
The government has declared three days of national mourning starting on Thursday, and all planned New Year’s festivities have been canceled throughout the country.
The small Adriatic Sea nation, which has a population of around 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.
In August 2022 in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.
Police have said that the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession. Montenegrin media have reported that he was known for erratic and violent behavior.
AP video by Almir Alic
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