update
The 89-year-old man who allegedly opened fire in a social security office in Athens has been arrested. The police report this. The suspected perpetrator injured at least five people in the Greek capital. He opened fire with a shotgun on employees of a social service and a courthouse. This was reported by the Greek broadcaster ‘ERTNews’. He was on the run for a while, after which a manhunt was started.
Luka Geets
Journalist at HLN
Source: Reuters
According to police, the man opened fire with a shotgun in an office of the Greek social security institution EFKA. An employee was injured in the leg. “He went inside, walked to the fourth floor, pointed his shotgun, told an employee to duck and then shot another employee,” Alexandros Varveris, head of EFKA, told radio station ERT. He said the shooter did not appear to have specifically selected the employee he hit.
The gunman then took a taxi to a courthouse in the city. Inside, he fired several shots, slightly wounding four female clerks, police and judicial sources said.
The man left the shotgun and some letters addressed to newspapers at the scene of the incident and fled on foot, media report. “Four women working in the small claims department were slightly injured,” Stratis Dounias, head of the court staff union in Athens, told public broadcaster ERT.
The 89-year-old perpetrator fled after the facts. Footage from surveillance cameras from nearby shops shows the man calmly crossing the street. The Greek police launched a large-scale manhunt to identify and arrest him.
Police have not yet said anything about a possible motive. Greek media report that the suspect is a garbage collector from the Athens region. Witnesses describe the man as very old, tall and slim.
Gun violence is relatively rare in Greece. Gun ownership is allowed there but strictly regulated.
