Weapon used in Thessaloniki student’s killing found

Greek Police have recovered a weapon they believe was used to kill a 19-year-old student early Tuesday morning in a district of Thessaloniki, northern Greece.

The murder weapon, a sickle, was discovered by locals a few meters away from the crime scene, next to a garbage bin. Authorities were alerted to the finding and the weapon has been sent to the police’s crime labs.

According to initial reports, the victim, Alkis Kambanos, along with two friends were intercepted and attacked at around 1 a.m. as they were walking in the street in the eastern district of Harilaou by several people riding in two cars.

The 19-year-old bled to death after being stabbed in the upper thigh, while the other two are being treated for multiple injuries at the Papanikolaou Hospital.

According to reports, one of the attackers asked the victim which soccer team he backs before launching into the assault.

Police sources believe at leat 10 people were involved in the attack.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his abhorrence of the teen’s murder during a conversation with MPs on the sidelines of a meeting with party officials in Thessaloniki Tuesday and contacted Citizen Protection Minister Takis Theodorikakos asking him that priority be given to the investigation of the crime.

Kambanos was a first-year student at the School of Economics and Political Science of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

“Nineteen-year-old Alkis had his whole life ahead of him. He came to our university to make his dreams come true. Instead, he fell victim to blind fan violence. We are all devastated and we condemn in the most categorical way this heinous event,” said Nikos Papaioannou, the university’s rector.