At least 10 people shot dead in Montenegro restaurant, suspect on the run

At least ten people, including two minors, were killed by an armed man on Wednesday in a restaurant in a village in southern Montenegro, including the owner of the establishment and members of his family, the Minister of Health announced. 'Interior.

According to the first elements communicated by the government and the police, it was a fight that went wrong and the suspect also killed members of his own family, according to the minister who spoke of a “private” event. A 45-year-old man was still on the run in the evening, sought by the police and the army who urged the residents of Cetinje to stay at home.

In a speech in the evening, Prime Minister Milojko Spajic announced a three-day national mourning, on January 2, 3 and 4, and specified that four people had been seriously injured.

“The doctors are fighting to save them,” the Prime Minister said, adding that “all the police teams, special units and all possible law enforcement agencies (were) in Cetinje.” “We are looking for the culprit and we are on the right path,” he stressed.

The hypothesis of a “non-mafia” crime

On site, near the traditional restaurant in which the tragedy took place, the police prevented anyone from approaching in the evening. Dozens of men, police vehicles and at least one ambulance were visible behind the barriers, noted an AFP journalist.

Assuring in its press release that this shooting was “not the result of a confrontation between groups belonging to organized crime”, the Montenegrin police urged residents to stay at home while the suspect was on the run.

Although the police seem to favor the hypothesis of a non-mafia crime, organized crime and corruption have long affected Montenegro, and the town of Cetinje has been particularly affected in recent months.

In June, two people died and three were injured there in an explosion – members of a criminal group, according to police. Among the injured were two other suspected gang members, as well as a female bystander.

After this explosion, the government promised to attack organized crime. But at the end of September, another member of a mafia clan was killed, again in Cetinje, the former royal capital nestled in the hollow of a valley. He was shot and killed by sniper fire while sitting in his backyard.

These settling of scores are all linked, investigators suspect, to the conflict which has opposed two criminal groups for years, the “skaljari” and the “kavaci”.

The small Balkan country – 630,000 inhabitants – has often promised to tackle these crimes in the hope of joining the European Union.

“Latest news”

Want to stay on top of the news? “Tribune de Genève” offers you two meetings per day, directly in your email box. So you don't miss anything that's happening in your canton, in Switzerland or around the world.

Other newsletters

Log in

AFP

Did you find an error? Please report it to us.

0 comments