Octogenarian Athens shooter acted in 'protest and despair', lawyer says

An 89-year-old gunman arrested for ​wounding five people in ​two shootings in Athens ‌on Tuesday acted ​in "protest and despair" against Greek public services, his lawyer said on Wednesday. EFKA workers walked out on ⁠Wednesday to protest ⁠over security after the shooting incident, which they said they viewed as another act of "people's frustration" over understaffed public ‌services.

An 89-year-old gunman arrested for ​wounding five people in ​two shootings in Athens ‌on Tuesday acted ​in "protest and despair" against Greek public services, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The man opened fire ‌with a shotgun at a branch of Greece’s EFKA social security agency, wounding an employee in the leg before travelling by taxi to a ‌court building where he fired several more shots, lightly wounding four ‌female court clerks.

He was later arrested in a hotel in the city of Patras, some 200 km (124 miles) from Athens. "It was an act of protest and ⁠despair," ​his lawyer, Vassilis Noulezas, ⁠told Reuters.

Noulezas said the man worked for 40 years as an engineer in Chicago ⁠and was previously hospitalised at a psychiatric clinic in Athens. He had applied ​for a supplementary pension in Greece but his request was rejected, ⁠he said. A public prosecutor on Wednesday charged the man with attempted murder and ⁠illegal ​possession of a gun.

Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis late on Tuesday admitted that there were security gaps at some court buildings but ⁠that Greece was a safe country overall. EFKA workers walked out on ⁠Wednesday to protest ⁠over security after the shooting incident, which they said they viewed as another act of "people's frustration" over understaffed public ‌services.