UPD Policeman kills wife, child, mother-in-law and commits suicide

An active policeman has killed his wife, his four-year-old daughter and his mother-in-law and committed suicide. The tragedy was discovered Monday noon, when relatives  informed the police that they had no contact to the family. Police broke the entrance door in the family home in Agioi Anargyroi suburb of West Athens to find that their colleague has killed his family before turned his pistol against himself.

According to preliminary media reports, the policeman used his service revolver to shoot at his family.

The 46-year-old policeman was reportedly serving his duty at the Greek parliament since 1996 and was assigned to guard former prime minister Costas Simitis since 2006.

The bodies were discovered around 2 o’ clock Monday noon, when relatives became concerned that the wife, a doctor, had not gone to her workplace, and they could not reach any of the family members.

The bodies of the policeman and father was found in the same room with his daughter, the wife and and mother in another room.

The wife and the mother-in-law were both doctors, working at a big private hospital.

So far, there is no official statement by the Greek police, except a short announcement that four bodies were discovered in a house in Agioi Anargyroi.

Citing police sources, media report that the tragedy took place several hours before the discovery of the bodies.

According to state broadcaster ERT TV, the policeman had successfully passed the routine psychological tests of Greek Police for weapons eligibility  in 2011.

According to media reports beginning of the year, 3 percent of the policemen were “unfit” to carry weapons.

The family tragedy has shocked not only the Greek Police but also the Greek society.

A coroner was expected to arrive at the home where the bodies were found and determined the time of the death.

A neighbor allegedly heard shooting sounds on Sunday night but nobody called the police.

The man’s colleagues told media that he has been working as usual in the last days and he had accompanied the former prime minister to an event in Ioannina, Epirus, over the weekend.

Media posted pictures of the policeman during Simitis’ visit over the weekend. via eleftherostypos.

He returned home just hours before the killing.

Media and society are holding their breath waiting authorities to disclose the motives that armed the hand of the man and had him murder his own flesh and blood.

UPDATE: media report that the policeman’s relation to his mother-in-law was tense as she would not trasnfer the ownership of her apartment to her daughter. Alpha TV said, the plan was that the mother-in-law also leaves the apartment so that the daughter would open her own private medical practice.

It looks as if a big quarrel preceded the murders, around 2 o’ clock Monday morning.

Many question why policemen take their weapons home and do not leave them at the police station once their fury shift is over.

Last April, a retired policeman had killed his own daughter and had initially claimed that the 6-year-old had gone missing.