An 89-year-old man suspected of rampaging through Athens with a shotgun has been arrested, more than 200km away from the mass shooting, and following a major manhunt.
The pensioner, identified locally as a garbage collector from the Athens area, was picked up by police in Patra around 4.30pm local time, some six hours after the first reports of an attack on a social security office in the city.
He was arrested carrying a loaded .38 revolver at a hotel this afternoon, after fleeing the capital, local media reported. Police are yet to confirm a motive, but local reports say the suspect had lost a court case regarding the awarding of his pension, citing unnamed sources.
The gunman initially opened fire at a branch of the National Social Security Fund (EFKA) in Kato Petralona on Tuesday morning, wounding an employee in the leg, police said.
Alexandros Varveris, head of EFKA, later said the gunman had gone to the fourth floor of the social security fund’s offices in the Kerameikos area of central Athens and opened fire after calling out to an employee to duck.
open image in galleryThe shot hit another employee, who was wounded in the leg, Varveris said, adding that the gunman had been wearing a trenchcoat under which he had hidden the weapon.
“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.
Security camera footage from a local store initially showed a man in dark clothing approaching the store this morning, carrying what appeared to be a short-barrelled shotgun in his right hand.
He then took a taxi to a court building, where he fired further shots, authorities said. At least three female court employees were slightly wounded by ricocheting shotgun pellets at the courthouse, while media reports said a fourth employee was taken to hospital without physical injuries.
Authorities said the weapon was abandoned in a photocopier. Sources told Greek outlet iEidiseis the suspect also left a stack of files at the courthouse with the gun, shouting as he left: “Here you will find the answers to what happened!”
open image in galleryAccording to Protothema, the man had received a pension from the US and Germany and had applied for eligibility in Greece. That claim was reportedly rejected in 2015, and an appeal was rejected two years later. His connection to the US is not clear.
A relative of the suspect called the authorities during the second shooting to identify him, according to Greek outlet Ethnos. They reportedly told police the attacker had previously been hospitalised in a psychiatric facility.
Police sources told Protothema that the man had planned the attacks, leaving some letters addressed to newspapers.
A scrawled letter dated 25 April, seen by The Independent, said: “You will read in the newspapers below, the thick folder with over 150 documents, tomorrow.”
Athens-based outlet Parapolitika reports that the suspect told a taxi driver on Monday, “You’ll see what I’ll do tomorrow”, citing unnamed sources.
A police spokesperson told The Independent: “The 89-year-old man sought in connection with today’s armed incidents in Athens has been located and apprehended a short while ago in the area of Patra by police officers of the Hellenic Police.”
