89-Year-Old Gunman Opens Fire at Social Security Office and Courthouse in Athens

A gunman opened fire at a social security office and at a courthouse in central Athens on Tuesday, wounding several people, Greek authorities said.

“A gunman opened fire at a social security office and a courthouse in central Athens, injuring several people, Greek authorities reported”

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Multiple outlets described the suspect as an 89-year-old man and said police launched an operation to locate him after he fled both scenes.

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Police said the suspect, armed with a shotgun, first opened fire at a social security office in the center of the Greek capital, wounding an employee, before escaping the scene.

The same man was then suspected of later opening fire on the ground floor of a court building, with several people wounded there, and authorities said they had found the shotgun.

State broadcaster ERT footage showed ambulance crews transporting at least three people from the courthouse to waiting ambulances.

Alexandros Varveris, head of the National Social Security Fund known by its Greek acronym EFKA, said the gunman went to the fourth floor of the social security fund’s offices in the Kerameikos area of central Athens and opened fire after calling out to an employee “to duck.”

Varveris told ERT radio, “He went in, went up to the fourth floor, raised his shotgun, told an employee to duck and hit another one,” and said the shot hit another employee who was wounded in the leg.

Accounts of where the gunman struck and what he left behind varied in detail, but several common elements appeared across reports.

The New York Post and CNN both said the suspect was armed with a shotgun and that police found the shotgun after the courthouse attack.

CGTN

Euronews also said police had found the shotgun and described the first location as the National Social Security Fund (EFKA) office in the centre of the Greek capital, with the second attack on the ground floor of the Court of Appeals building.

BGNES provided street-level specifics, saying the social security office was at 4 Keriadon Street in the Keramikos neighborhood and that the later attack was on Kirou Loukareos Street in Ambelokipi.

BGNES also said the courthouse was evacuated, citing Kathimerini, and that the suspect fled leaving his hunting rifle behind.

That detail conflicted with other outlets that said authorities had found the shotgun, including the Jerusalem Post and WBTV/AP.

Several reports also described the gunman’s behavior after the courthouse shooting, with ERT saying he reportedly threw envelopes with documents onto the floor, saying those were the reasons for his actions.

Across outlets, the wounded employee at the social security office was treated at the scene and transported to a hospital after police applied a tourniquet to his leg.

Alexandros Varveris, head of EFKA, provided a detailed account of the social security office attack as reported by multiple outlets.

“A gunman opened fire at a social security office and a courthouse in central Athens on Tuesday, wounding several people, Greek authorities said”

CNN

Varveris said the gunman went to the fourth floor of the social security fund’s offices in the Kerameikos area of central Athens and opened fire after calling out to an employee “to duck.”

In the New York Post and WBTV/AP, Varveris told ERT radio, “He went in, went up to the fourth floor, raised his shotgun, told an employee to duck and hit another one,” and both reports said the shot hit another employee who was wounded in the leg.

Varveris also said it didn’t appear that the gunman had specifically targeted the employee he hit, according to the New York Post and WBTV/AP.

Euronews repeated the same core description, saying Varveris told ERT radio that the gunman “told an employee to duck and hit another one,” and that it did not appear the gunman had specifically targeted the employee he hit.

The Mirror added further claims about the sequence, saying the gunman “opened fire at an EFKA social security office and then at a courthouse in central Athens” and describing an eyewitness account of people running out of the court building.

The Mirror also said local reports suggested he was a scrap metal collector and that he had earlier broken into the social security office and climbed to the fourth floor, but it did not provide a named official source for those claims.

Still, across the outlets that quoted Varveris, the call to “to duck” and the fourth-floor movement were consistent elements of the EFKA account.

While most reports agreed on the broad outline—two shootings in central Athens, a police manhunt, and a suspect described as 89—details diverged in ways that affected how readers understood the incident.

The New York Post and CNN both said the suspect was armed with a shotgun and that police found the shotgun, while BGNES said the suspect was armed with a rifle and that the suspect fled leaving his hunting rifle behind.

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The Jerusalem Post also said the shotgun was found at the scene, aligning with the shotgun accounts rather than BGNES’s rifle detail.

The Mirror claimed five people were shot and described the gunman as a pensioner, while other outlets described “several people” wounded and did not provide a specific number.

BGNES said the social security office was at 4 Keriadon Street in the Keramikos neighborhood and that the later attack was on Kirou Loukareos Street in Ambelokipi, while other reports used broader descriptions such as “central Athens” and “another part of central Athens.”

ERT’s reported behavior at the courthouse was consistent in multiple outlets, with ERT saying the gunman reportedly threw envelopes with documents onto the floor after the shooting, saying those were the reasons for his actions.

Yet the Mirror added that Greek news site Real reports four women were shot at the courthouse, and it also stated that there was “no official word on the condition of the victims,” while other outlets said ambulance crews transported at least three people from the courthouse to waiting ambulances.

Even the weapon description at the social security office varied in emphasis, with Varveris describing a trenchcoat under which he had hidden the shotgun in the New York Post and WBTV/AP, while BGNES’s rifle framing introduced a different picture of what was used.

Across the reporting, the motive for the shootings remained unclear, and authorities were still focused on locating the gunman.

“Gunman opens fire at two sites in Athens, several wounded; suspect on the run Athens: A gunman opened fire at a social security office and at a courthouse in central Athens on Tuesday, wounding several people, Greek authorities said”

Mathrubhumi English

The New York Post and CNN both said “The motive for the shooting was unclear,” and Euronews repeated that the motive was unclear.

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Police operations were underway to locate the gunman, with multiple outlets describing a manhunt and police presence at both crime scenes.

The New York Post said a police operation was underway to locate the gunman, and it reported that Greek media said he was an 89-year-old man.

WBTV/AP similarly described “a police operation was underway to locate the gunman,” and it said authorities had found the shotgun.

ERT’s account of the documents envelopes after the courthouse shooting was included in the New York Post, CNN, and Euronews, with ERT saying the gunman reportedly threw envelopes with documents onto the floor after the shooting at the courthouse, saying those were the reasons for his actions.

Varveris’s comments about the call to “to duck” and the leg wound were paired with the report that police applied a tourniquet to his leg at the scene, and ERT footage showed ambulance crews transporting at least three people from the courthouse to waiting ambulances.

While some outlets added speculative details—such as the Mirror’s claims about an eyewitness and local reports—other reports kept the focus on the official uncertainty about motive and the ongoing search.