PODGORICA, Montenegro — A top-level assembly in Montenegro on Friday seemed for tactics to curb unlawful weapons after a gunman fatally shot 12 individuals in a second such tragedy in lower than three years within the small Balkan nation.
An emergency session of Montenegro’s Nationwide Safety Council is predicted to name for a brand new gun legislation and pressing actions to confiscate what are believed to be plentiful unlawful weapons in possession of Montenegro’s 620,000 residents.
The Adriatic Sea nation has a deeply-rooted gun tradition. State tv broadcaster RTCG reported that Montenegro is sixth on the earth in the case of the variety of unlawful weapons per capita.
The gunman who killed a dozen individuals in a taking pictures rampage within the western city of Cetinje on Wednesday did so with an unlawful 9 mm gun. Police have stated they discovered 37 casings on the taking pictures places, and greater than 80 further items of ammunition within the gunman’s possession.
The 45-year-old man, recognized as Aco Martinović, finally shot himself within the head and died shortly after. He’s believed to have snapped after a bar brawl, and went dwelling to get his weapon earlier than launching a bloody rampage at a number of places late Wednesday afternoon.
Martinović’s victims included seven males, three girls — amongst them his sister — and two kids, born in 2011 and 2016. 4 extra individuals have been critically wounded and stay hospitalized.
Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović has described Wednesday’s taking pictures as “one of many largest tragedies within the historical past of Montenegro.”
The taking pictures has fueled considerations in regards to the degree of violence in Montenegrin society, which is politically divided. It additionally raised questions in regards to the readiness of state establishments to deal with the issues, together with gun possession.
Lots of of individuals all through Montenegro lit candles in silence on Thursday night in reminiscence of the victims, whereas additionally calling for solutions as to why the taking pictures occurred. Many have been offended on the authorities for not doing extra to forestall such tragedies and protests are being deliberate for the approaching days.
Mira Škorić, a retiree from Podgorica, stated that “I can’t imagine that we failed a lot as a society. We failed as individuals too.”
In a separate bloodbath in August 2022, an attacker killed 10 individuals, together with two kids, earlier than he was shot and killed by a passerby in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital positioned about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the capital, Podgorica.
The shootings “require a severe examination of the accountability and preparedness of the safety system,” the Human Rights Motion and Girls’s Rights Middle teams stated in an announcement. “What has modified within the safety system in Cetinje since 2022?”
Police have stated that Martinović’s actions weren’t deliberate and have been unimaginable to foretell and stop, although he had been convicted previously for violent conduct and unlawful weapons possession, and had acquired psychiatric remedy.
Vesna Pejović, a Cetinje resident who misplaced her daughter and two grandchildren within the taking pictures again in 2022, stated police needed to do extra to guard the residents after the primary killing.
“What sort of state and system is that this the place kids are getting killed? Are we at warfare?” she requested. “The place have been the police?”
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Jovana Gec and Dušan Stojanović contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.
