Police on ‘right track’ to find assailants of violent Kifissia burglary
Police investigations into the attempted murder of a 52-year-old businessman who challenged a pair of burglars in his home in northern Athens early on Monday are “on the right track,” sources told the ANA-MPA news agency on Tuesday.
Experts have retrieved three 9-mm bullet casings from the scene of the crime, which they hope will yield valuable clues as to the assailants’ identities, while a widespread manhunt is under way.
The incident happened shortly after 5 a.m. on Monday morning in the leafy northern suburb of Kifissia, where the victim was asleep with his wife on the second floor of their home when the burglars entered their bedroom. The couple’s 18-year-old son was in the attic bedroom and the housekeeper on the ground floor, and were awakened by the yelling and the shots, according to police.
Investigators are also questioning the victim’s wife, who has said that the two assailants spoke Greek well but not fluently, indicating that they may be foreigners who have lived in the country for many years. According to the ANA-MPA she also said that they reacted particularly violently to being challenged by her husband.
The 52-year-old was still on life support on Tuesday afternoon after undergoing at least two rounds of life-saving surgery for multiple injuries sustained after being shot twice and receiving blows to the head with a heavy metal object.
Doctors at the Georgios Gennimatas General Hospital refrained from providing details regarding his condition, saying that the next 48 hours will be critical. They also made an appeal for blood donations.
