“If I wanted to, I would have killed them” – The first words of the 89-year-old to the police

Before the prosecutor, the 89-year-old involved in the double armed attack on the EFKA offices and the Athens Court of Appeals, injuring five people, was brought in.

According to reports, during his interrogation on Tuesday evening (April 28), by the police of the Athens Security, the 89-year-old stated among other things:

“I didn’t want to kill anyone, if I wanted to kill them, I would have shot them, I wouldn’t have shot at the floor. That’s why I shot at the floor and not at them. I just wanted to make noise because my issue isn’t getting solved.”

According to the authorities, they believe he is telling the truth because the shot aimed at an employee at EFKA was directed downward. Before shooting, he told the employee in front of him to bend down.

The gunshots at the Court of Appeals (formerly the Court of First Instance) show the same thing, with the shots also aimed at the floor and the workers getting injured from ricocheted bullets.

Describing his movements, the 89-year-old said:

“I took a taxi from EFKA because the taxi that took me there left, and I went to Lukareos, and as soon as I left the Court, I took another taxi and headed towards Patras. Initially, I thought of going to the Kifisos bus station but ended up going to Patras. I thought of getting a ticket to go to Italy. I couldn’t withdraw money from the ATM, and in the end, I was planning to travel today.”

The elderly man even mentioned that he had planned to attack the European Court: “At one point, I thought I might go to France and shoot in the air in the Greek section just to make a scene because I had filed a complaint and the court didn’t rule in my favor. In the end, the police came to the hotel and found me. At some point, I even thought about going to my village in Kalamata, to the central square, and then call the police to come arrest me.”

He receives two pensions from the USA and Germany (2,500 euros), having worked there in the past, and wanted to be recognized for a pension in Greece, something he was reportedly not entitled to, which led to the loss of his lawsuits against EFKA.

Taxi Drivers’ Response

The Police are also trying to figure out what went wrong. According to reports, they consider the security measures at the Court by the Judicial Police dangerously weak, but there is also frustration over the taxi drivers’ response. After the perpetrator’s photo was published, none of the taxi drivers informed the authorities.

The perpetrator changed taxis immediately after committing the attacks and was eventually found in Patras. There, the authorities had already started their investigation at the nearby KTEL bus station and were informed of his presence by a hotel employee.

Meanwhile, the Police conducted widespread searches in all possible and unlikely places: at the house where he was staying at his niece’s place in Patissia, in hourly rental hotels in Kerameikos and surrounding areas, at squares and benches, at KTEL bus stations, train stations, and even at cemeteries where his relatives were buried. Similar searches were also carried out in his village in Messinia and at regional bus stations, including in Patras.

Gun Ownership License

In July 2018, the 89-year-old had obtained a license for a hunting rifle based on a psychiatric assessment declaring him fit. In November of the same year, he had an altercation with a prosecutor, and psychiatrists who examined him at Dafni recommended his confinement. This was carried out by a court order, and his firearm license was revoked.

At the time, the perpetrator had a verbal confrontation with the prosecutor in her office due to the negative court ruling in his legal dispute with the pension fund, and he placed four bullets on her desk, leading to his confinement.

The Chronology of the Attacks

The first incident occurred at the EFKA in Kerameikos on the morning of Tuesday when the 89-year-old entered the building armed, went up to the fourth floor, and shot an employee in the leg, injuring him.

According to the testimonies of the workers, the perpetrator entered, took out a shotgun, placed it on the counter, and after telling the employee in front of him to bend down, he shot at the opposite side where his colleague was, who was also injured in the leg.

The perpetrator immediately fled after the act.

As seen in the video, the elderly man – after entering the EFKA building in Kerameikos – calmly walks out and crosses Kiriadon Street.

The Attack on the Court of Appeals

A little later, a second armed attack by the 89-year-old occurred, this time on the ground floor of the Court of Appeals on Lukareos Street.

There, the perpetrator entered unopposed into office 23 of the Court, shot and lightly wounded four employees, left his weapon and some files behind before fleeing again. These files reportedly contained newspaper clippings, which, according to the perpetrator, explain why he attacked the EFKA and the Court of First Instance.

“They Treated Me Like a Stray Dog”

“They treated me like a stray dog. I went mad and I’ll bite them like a dog,” he said among many other things in his letters, which he left in a folder at the Athens Court of Appeals after the shooting incident at office 23 and upon his exit.

He even made a detailed reference to his biography, mentioning where he grew up and where he worked for many years of his life, specifically in Germany and Chicago, USA, stating that there, his social security was recognized, and he received a pension, something which did not happen in Greece with EFKA, thus constantly expressing his complaints about EFKA and the Justice system for his unresolved legal dispute.

The 89-Year-Old’s Letter

“Dear newspapers, good morning. I am P.K. I was born in Messinia in 1937 and I joined the army in 1959.

In 1962, I went to Berlin for work and school. In 1970, I traveled and settled in Chicago. In 2005, I applied for a pension in Chicago, and America gave me a pension in two months. Also, I applied in Chicago with the German card, and in six months, they sent me the mixed German pension.

At the same office, at the same time, along with the two cards, I also submitted the Greek IKA: the social security book and the health book. The Americans told me they would send the papers to Greece, and they gave me two copies and some other documents. From the moment they went to Greece, the big problems with the Greek IKA and the Greek courts began.

The Greek IKA, this committee in Platia Attikis, when they called me to their office, cursed me terribly and called me a ‘traitor’ for coming to Greece and asking for a pension. I cursed them back. And the Greek IKA, since they have the pen and the pen has power, did first a forgery and then sabotage, writing a letter to the German IKA stating that they do not give me a Greek pension.

P.S. The public services, the Greek courts, and the Greek IKA treated me here in Greece – where I have been for 20 years, with a pension from the USA of 2,600 dollars per month, for 20 years – more than half a million dollars – like a stray dog, kicked and beaten.

And now, the dog, I went mad, and I’m furious, and one day I’ll go to their offices and bite them, so they’ll go mad too.

The mad dog.”