Off-duty officer may face murder charges over Kifissia shooting
A policeman who shot and killed a 36-year-old man in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia while he was off-duty could face murder charges, according to the evidence of the preliminary, state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported on Thursday.
The officer, who serves in the police's motorcycle DIAS unit, will appear before a prosecutor who will decide on the actual charges, based on the case file.
According to the file, the policeman 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.
He 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.
Police have identified the second man involved in the incident who rode in the car with the victim as a 45-year-old who is known to authorities for his involvement in frauds.
The 36-year-old victim, identified as a member of the Romani community, had been implicated in a 2009 attempted murder in Zefyri, among other offenses.
