A retired officer of the Greek Air Force has shot his wife and turned his gun against himself on Thursday. The victim and the perpetrator initially survived the shooting and were transferred intubated and in critical condition to a hospital in Athens. One and a half hour after the incident, media report that they both succumbed to their injuries.
Their death has not been confirmed by the police so far, nor their ages with some media to report that the officer was 70-87 years old and the wife 50-60.
The incident took place outside the couple’s home in Elliniko suburb of south Athens.
It was short before 12 0′ clock noon, when the man shot his Bulgarian wife with his 22-mm-gun. The woman was on the street outside their home.
According to preliminary information, after he shot at his partner, the 70-year-old man entered the building yard and shot himself.
A school student told cnn.gr that he saw the woman on the ground, she was injured and in shock. She then got up and tried to get into a taxi parked outside shouting “He killed me! He killed me!”
The taxi driver told media he heard “two gun shots” but did not see the perpetrator.
Μedia report that the taxi driver told the injured woman to get out of his cab as he could not help her.
The woman and the shooter were transferred to the hospital with ambulances.
Police investigates the case and the perpetrator’s motive.
Citing witnesses, media report that the couple had a heavy argument prior to the shooting.
The couple got married in recent months, ANT1 TV reported from the crime scene.
In recent weeks, Greece experiences a rise of violent inter-family acts and suicides. Husbands kill wives, friends pull the trigger against friends, people shoot themselves. On Tuesday, a mother threw her 4.5-year-old daughter from the 5th floor and jumped as well. On Wednesday, a 29-year-old officer of the Air Force was found to have hanged himself in his home. A 48-year-old man and a 17-year-old high school student put an end to their lives on the island of Crete on the same day. The student had left a note saying he could not live without his girl friend who had broken their relationship.
PS I have no data or statistics on the recent violence outbreak, and I honestly hope that it is not the distress of the 10-year-long economic crisis that has turned the Greek society into a very violent one.
Of course it could not be the economic crisis! Doesn’t everyone see that the banks have helped Greece onto a golden path to prosperity in the last 10 years? I would like to know if there is a more useless and pernicious profession than banker.