Cetinje, Montenegro (Reuters) – Thousands of Montenegrins gathered in the town of Cetinje on Sunday to commemorate 12 victims of a mass shooting last week, with many accusing police of not doing enough to stop the gunman's attack.
In a crime that shocked the small Balkan nation, 45-year-old Ako Martinovic opened fire on Wednesday and continued for hours. When police finally surrounded him, he turned his gun on himself and later died from his wounds.
On Sunday, people lit candles in front of a church in Cetinje, near where the shooting began, and observed a 12-minute silence in honor of the victims.
“We came here to demand answers about why there was not a timely reaction and who will bear responsibility for that,” Maja Jardasevic told Reuters.
Many Montenegrins are angry about what they see as slow reform of an understaffed and under-resourced police force, and bureaucratic and political disagreements within the government.
This is the second mass shooting incident in less than three years in Cetinje, which is located about 38 kilometers west of the capital, Podgorica. In August 2022, a gunman killed 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead.
“This is simply my protest against the lawlessness of the police,” said local resident Alexandra Jablan. “They have learned nothing after the first tragedy.”
In the capital, on Friday, demonstrators demanded the resignation of senior officials, including Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic and the police chief.
Montenegro, a small republic on the Adriatic Sea with a population of 633,000, has a deep-rooted gun culture.
Like other Western Balkan countries – Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia – Montenegro is full of illegal weapons, most of them from the bloody wars of the 1990s.
