Man killed by off-duty police officer was known to authorities
A 36-year-old man who was killed by an off-duty police officer in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia on Wednesday was known to the authorities and had been implicated in a 2009 attempted murder, among other offenses.
According to the ANA-MPA news agency on Thursday, the police officer in question said he shot the 36-year-old with his service revolver in self-defense during a physical altercation while trying to thwart what appeared to be a kidnapping in his neighborhood.
The officer told investigators that he started pursuing the suspect and another man – who is still at large – after allegedly seeing them force an 82-year-old woman walking her dog into a car and driving off. He chased the vehicle in his own private car and managed to make it stop at the intersection of Kifissou and Drosou street, where he shot one of the two alleged kidnappers who stepped out of the car and went for a gun as they came to blows.
The 82-year-old managed to escape in the fracas, while the second suspect drove off after the 36-year-old got back into the vehicle.
According to the ANA-MPA, the 36-year-old was dropped off outside a hospital in the area some 45 minutes later, but doctors were unable to save his life. He was later identified as a member of the Romani community, residing at a camp in the west Attica town of Zefyri.
