Serbian Government Declares Day of Mourning for Montenegro‘s Cetinje Massacre
In a somber declaration, the Serbian government has announced a national day of mourning for this week’s tragic events in Cetinje, Montenegro, where an armed man fatally shot 12 people and injured four. The decision was proposed by Serbian President Aleksandr Vučič, according to reports by Tanjug, cited by Beta News Agency.
The government’s cabinet meeting began with a minute of silence in honor of the Cetinje massacre victims. Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučićević once again expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and the people of Montenegro.
On New Year’s Day, a 45-year-old man, identified as Aco Martinović, entered a bar in Cetinje, where a dispute occurred. Later, he returned home, allegedly to retrieve his weapon, and embarked on a deadly shooting spree across the town. He eventually shot himself in the head and died en route to the hospital. Four people remain in critical condition.
Sadly, this is not the first such incident in Cetinje. In August 2022, another armed man killed 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead himself.
Montenegro, with a population of around 633,000, has a deeply ingrained gun culture. Like other Western Balkan countries such as Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, Montenegro struggles with illegal gun ownership, much of it left over from the brutal wars of the 1990s during the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The tragic event in Cetinje has once again brought the issue of gun control to the forefront of regional discourse. As investigations continue, the Balkans grapples with the persistent legacy of armed conflict and the rising threat of unregulated firearms.
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