An 89-year-old man opened fire at a social security office and courthouse in central Athens, Greece, wounding several people on Tuesday. Law enforcement authorities said the suspect was arrested near the city of Patra, some 210 kilometres west of the Greek capital.
The suspect who was armed with a shotgun wounded an employee at the social security office. By the time police officers arrived at the scene, the gunman was gone.
The suspect first went to the fourth floor of the social security fund’s offices in the Kerameikos area of central Athens and opened fire after he called at an employee “to duck”. His shot hit another employee who was wounded in the leg.
Alexandros Varveris, head of the National Social Security Fund, said that the gunman was wearing a trench coat under which he had hidden the shotgun.
The same gunman later opened fire again on the ground floor of a court building in another part of the city and wounded several people there, the police said.
At least three female court employees were slightly wounded by ricocheting shotgun pellets, while media reports said that a fourth female employee was transported to a hospital without physical injuries.
The motive for the attack is still unclear at the moment. However, state broadcaster ERT reported that the gunman had thrown envelopes with documents on the floor of the courthouse before shooting, saying that those were the reasons for his actions.
“He went in, went up to the fourth floor, raised his shotgun, told an employee to duck and hit another one,” Varveris told ERT radio. He said the gunman didn’t appear to specifically target the employee he hit.
The wounded employee was transported to a hospital after police applied a tourniquet to his leg at the scene.
Gun violence is relatively rare in Greece, where firearm ownership is allowed but tightly regulated.
(With inputs from agencies)
