Ex-policeman gunned down

Police on Tuesday launched an investigation after a 57-year-old former police officer was shot and killed in the early hours of the morning in what investigators believe was an attack prompted by a personal vendetta.

The former officer, identified only as S.P., who had served with the force’s elite EKAM counterterrorism unit, was reportedly ambushed outside a taverna in the eastern Attica town of Pallini and shot several times. He tried to escape the gunfire by running back into the eatery, but died before help could arrive.

Hellenic Police (ELAS) sources indicated that the attack was probably motivated by personal rather than professional differences.