An 89-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly opening fire at two locations in central Athens, wounding at least four people.
Police said the suspect first entered a social security office, where he shot and injured an employee before fleeing the scene. Officers treated the victim at the site before he was taken to hospital.
The same man is then believed to have carried out a second shooting at a courthouse, where several people were wounded. Authorities later recovered the shotgun used in the attacks.
Television footage showed ambulance crews transporting at least three injured people from the courthouse, while reports indicated a fourth woman was taken to hospital without physical injuries.
The suspect was arrested near Patra, about 210 kilometres west of Athens.
According to Alexandros Varveris, head of the national social security fund EFKA, the gunman went to the fourth floor of the office before opening fire.
“He went in, went up to the fourth floor, raised his shotgun, told an employee to duck and hit another one,” Varveris said, adding the injured worker was shot in the leg and did not appear to have been specifically targeted.
At the courthouse, Stratis Dounias of the Athens Judicial Employees Union said early information suggested the man fired at the floor, with three female employees slightly wounded by ricocheting pellets.
The motive remains unclear. State broadcaster ERT reported the suspect left behind envelopes containing documents outlining reasons for his actions.
Gun violence is relatively rare in Greece, where firearm ownership is tightly regulated.
Source: AP News.
