Shooting Incident in Athens Leads to Arrest of 89-Year-Old Man

On Tuesday, Greek authorities reported that an 89-year-old man has been arrested following a shooting that resulted in injuries to five people in Athens.

The suspect was seen in security footage approaching the social security office EFKA in the Kerameikos area, walking calmly across the street while holding a shotgun. Once inside, he ordered an employee to “hunker down” before firing, which struck another worker in the leg. Eyewitnesses described how he seemed to choose his targets indiscriminately.

After leaving the social security office, he hailed a taxi and went to a nearby courthouse in Ambelokipi, where he fired at the office floor, injuring four female staff members. Before fleeing, he tossed an envelope onto the ground, claiming its contents would clarify his actions, and left the shotgun behind.

The judicial staff union reported that the four women sustained “minor injuries” while working in the small claims court at the facility.

Following a thorough investigation, the police arrested the suspect at a hotel in Patras, located around 210 miles west of Athens. Authorities also recovered a second firearm, a .38 revolver, during the arrest.

Local media indicated that the man worked as a garbage collector and had been treated for mental health issues in 2018. Interestingly, the suspect’s niece contacted the police after recognizing him from news reports about the incident.

According to reports from a Greek news website, the suspect shouldn’t have been able to carry out the attack using a shotgun, as his license had been revoked due to prior mental health treatment. His shotgun had been confiscated during this time.

It was noted that in 2018, after his pension application was denied, he left behind shell casings outside a prosecutor’s office, signaling past issues with his mental health.

Media sources also revealed that the man had been receiving pensions from both the United States and Germany, having applied for entitlements in Greece. However, his claims were rejected in 2016, and his appeal was dismissed a couple of years later. Details around why he collected pensions in those countries weren’t immediately available.

A handwritten note dated April 25 was discovered, indicating that the suspect planned to publish a “thick folder containing over 150 documents” in a newspaper. Additionally, he reportedly told a taxi driver a day before the incident, “You’ll know what I’ll do tomorrow.” These statements imply that the shooting may have been a desperate act to voice his frustrations about his pension situation.