Athens shooting: Gunman aged 89 on the run after opening fire in city centre | News World

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A gunman has opened fire at a social security office and a courthouse in central Athens, wounding several people.

A police operation is underway to locate the gunman, who Greek media said was an 89-year-old man.

Police said the person was armed with a shotgun and initially opened fire at a social security office within the centre of the Greek capital, wounding an worker.

The identical man was suspected of later opening fire on the bottom floor of a court constructing in Athens, with several people wounded there. His motive stays unclear.

Footage from state broadcaster ERT News showed ambulance crews taking no less than three people from the courthouse to waiting ambulances.

ERT said that the gunman reportedly threw envelopes with documents onto the ground after the shooting on the courthouse, saying those were the explanations for his actions.

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Rescuers and law enforcement officials are on the scene (Picture: Reuters)
Police officers walk outside the Athens??? Court of Appeal following a shooting incident that left several wounded, in Athens, Greece, April 28, 2026. Sotiris Dimitropoulos/Eurokinissi via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT. GREECE OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN GREECE.
The person’s motive stays unclear (Picture: Reuters)

Alexandros Varveris, head of the National Social Security Fund EFKA, said that the gunman had gone to the fourth floor of the fund’s offices within the Kerameikos area of central Athens and opened fire after calling out to an worker ‘to duck’.

His shot hit one other worker, who was wounded within the leg, Varveris said, adding that the gunman had been wearing a trenchcoat under which he had hidden the shotgun.

‘He went in, went as much as the fourth floor, raised his shotgun, told an worker to duck and hit one other one,’ Varveris told ERT radio.

The wounded man was taken to the hospital after police applied a tourniquet to his leg on the scene.

Gun violence is comparatively rare in Greece, where firearm ownership is allowed but tightly regulated.

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