A Cetinje shooting killed at least 10 people, among them two children, on New Year’s Day. The gunman wounded four others and fled into the surrounding hills. Meanwhile, police in Montenegro launched a manhunt and urged residents to stay indoors.
Police identified the suspect as Aco Martinović, 45. He had spent the day drinking in a tavern in the Bajice neighbourhood. After a brawl broke out there, he went home and returned with a handgun. At about 5:30 p.m., he opened fire and killed the bar’s owner. He also killed the owner’s two sons, aged 10 and 13, and another person at the scene. Then he drove to other locations in Cetinje and shot members of his own family and others before disappearing. Police described him as armed and dangerous. His record included a suspended sentence for violent behaviour and a pending appeal in an illegal-weapons case.
Key Points
- Montenegro’s interior minister said at least 10 people were killed and four seriously wounded; the victims included two children.
- The suspect, named by police as Aco Martinović, 45, fled on foot; special police units were deployed to Cetinje and residents were told to remain inside.
- Cetinje, Montenegro’s historical capital, was the scene of the country’s previous worst mass shooting in August 2022, when 10 people were killed.
The Cetinje shooting: a small town sealed off on a holiday evening
Cetinje is a town of about 14,000 in the mountains west of Podgorica. It is Montenegro’s former royal capital, a quiet, historic place of museums and embassies. It is unaccustomed to leading world news twice in three years. On Wednesday evening, police roadblocks ringed the town as officers searched for the gunman in the dark. Ambulances carried the wounded to hospitals in Cetinje and Podgorica, where four lay in serious condition. The hospital in the capital appealed for calm as families gathered outside.
Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović and the police director laid out the sequence at a news conference. They stressed that the motive appeared rooted in the day-long drinking session and the bar brawl. They ruled out any organized or political cause. Investigators said the weapons included a 9mm handgun that Martinović was not licensed to hold. Police had seized firearms from his home in a 2022 raid. That detail is certain to dominate the aftermath.
Background: a nation heavily armed, scarred before
The Cetinje shooting came in a nation with one of the world’s highest rates of civilian gun ownership. That legacy flows from the Balkan wars and a deep hunting and martial culture. Mass shootings are rare, but they have struck Cetinje before. In August 2022, a resident of the same town killed 10 neighbours, including two children, before a passerby shot him dead. That attack prompted pledges to tighten gun laws. Critics say authorities never meaningfully carried out those pledges.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić visited the wounded in hospital. He said the National Security Council would consider “all options, including a complete ban on weapons possession.” Montenegrins have heard versions of that promise before. The country’s gun culture makes any ban politically fraught. A large stock of unregistered weapons from the 1990s makes it practically fraught too.
What happens next
The Cetinje shooting manhunt ended before dawn. Police said officers cornered Martinović near his home in the early hours of Jan. 2. He shot himself and died on the way to hospital. The confirmed toll rose to 12, including the two children. Then one of the wounded died of his injuries on Jan. 9, bringing the total to 13. Montenegro declared three days of national mourning. Flags flew at half-mast, and vigils filled Cetinje’s square. There, the prime minister’s question remained open: can a small nation saturated with guns keep absorbing nights like this one?
As the search widened beyond the town, police appealed for information. They asked the gunman to give himself up and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. The instruction to stay inside turned one of Europe’s quieter capitals into a locked-down town. That happened on the night of the year when its cafés and squares are normally fullest. Montenegrins noted an eerie echo of the August 2022 attack, after which the same streets filled with candlelit vigils instead.
Sources: Police Directorate of Montenegro and Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović, press conference, Jan. 1, 2025; Government of Montenegro statements.
