The 89-year-old who broke into EFKA and the Athens Court of First Instance, opened fire, and injured a total of five people, is expected to be brought before the prosecutor today. After his testimony, his criminal treatment will be decided, as due to his advanced age he may not be sent to prison.
Charis Tsitsikas, board member of the Union of Police Officers of Achaia, spoke on MEGA about the arrest of the 89-year-old, who traveled from Athens to Patras.
“From the very first moment the violent incident occurred in the Athens area, there was continuous communication between the competent services of Attica and Patras, because there was information that the perpetrator would head to our city and possibly depart for Italy via the port. The initial information came from the security services in Athens. We were told there was a serious possibility of such a transfer to our area. After that, as the Operations Center, we received a phone call from the specific hotel where the perpetrator was staying, where, according to the staff, there was a person who closely matched the description of the suspect.
From there, following instructions from our superiors, an immediate plan was drawn up in order to arrest the individual, taking into account that he was inside a hotel that was full, including students on school trips and other guests who had arrived for that purpose,” Mr. Tsitsikas said initially.
He continued: “We did not find him in the room. The DIAS Unit and patrol vehicles were positioned around the hotel. I entered pretending to be a customer, trying to locate him in the lobby. Our information indicated that he was sitting in the lobby. However, upon entering the hotel we could not locate him, as he had gone up to the mezzanine floor, and both I and the entire operational plan decided not to follow him, as we had information that he might be armed. So we waited for him to come down to the lobby in order to have a better visual field.
When he eventually came down to the lobby, at some point he spoke with a hotel employee and turned his back to me. I immobilized him from behind. I told him I am a police officer and immediately my colleagues entered as well. We restrained him, and what surprised us greatly was that during the search we found on him a loaded .38 revolver and ten bullets in his trousers. The revolver was in a special operational holster.
When I arrested him, he smiled at me and said, ‘I will be on all the news bulletins.’ He was fully cooperative, calm, and smiling. His first words were that he had issues with IKA and his insurance. After that, a preliminary investigation was conducted by security services in Patras, and he was immediately transported by vehicle to the General Police Directorate of Attica for the remainder of the case file formed against him.”
Timeline of the attacks
The 89-year-old first went by taxi to the EFKA offices in Kerameikos, where he opened fire using a short-barrel shotgun and injured an employee in the right leg. He then took another taxi and headed to the Court of First Instance on Loukareos Street, covering approximately five kilometers, where he fired again, resulting in the injury of four more people, all women.
However, he left his suitcase in the taxi, which contained his passport, wallet with money, and other documents. According to the police who arrested him, he had reached Patras, from where he intended to flee abroad. He had already booked a ferry ticket scheduled to depart on Wednesday afternoon for Ancona, Italy.
The 89-year-old was located in a hotel in Patras and identified after his photo had been made public. His niece reportedly called and stated that the man in question was her uncle. His final destination remains unknown, although he claimed he planned to travel to Germany.
The man, who receives pensions from the United States and Germany but was unable to obtain a pension in Greece, referred to problems with IKA and EFKA regarding the recognition of insurance stamps, as well as court rulings that did not rule in his favor.
