Witnesses say they heard three gunshots as police try to establish the nature of the relationship between the man and woman. The Albanian woman had earlier visited her daughter’s home in the building.

According to the latest findings of the police investigation, a 48-year-old man had lain in wait inside his car for the 45-year-old woman who was murdered in the early hours of Sunday in Nea Smyrni, a suburb of Athens.

The man, who like the victim was of Albanian origin, is reported to have waited for her at 3 Grigoriou Kydonion Street, outside the block of flats where she lived with her 16-year-old daughter. When he saw her leaving the building, he got out of his car, approached her and shot her with a revolver.

She was hit by the gunfire and collapsed at the entrance to the building. Immediately afterwards, according to the account pieced together by the authorities, the man turned the same weapon on himself and shot himself in the head. The revolver was found near his body.

Married and father of a child

According to information from protothema.gr, the killer was married and had a child, while his wife is reported to have told police that she knew nothing about his relationship with the 45-year-old woman.

Officers are examining evidence indicating that the man and woman were involved in a personal relationship, although its nature, duration and intensity have not yet been fully established. This aspect is considered crucial to the investigation, as authorities seek to determine the motive behind the 48-year-old’s actions.

He waited for her to leave the building

One detail now being examined especially closely is that the man does not appear to have been at the scene by chance. Officers are trying to establish how long he had been waiting for her, whether he knew beforehand that she was at that particular flat, and what had happened between the two of them previously.

Nothing uncovered so far indicates that the two were married. The exact nature of their relationship, along with the motive that led the man to commit the murder, is at the centre of the investigation.

The 45-year-old woman had gunshot wounds to her body and, according to initial information, possibly to her face as well.

According to sources at Proto Thema, the woman had gone to Acropolis Police Station two years earlier, in July 2024, to report that a former partner had failed to return a motorbike to her after they separated. However, it is not clear from the information available whether that complaint concerned the man responsible for her murder, nor what the exact nature of their relationship was.

Search of the killer’s home in Tavros

As part of the investigation, a search is under way at the man’s home in Tavros, aimed at uncovering evidence that could shed light on his relationship with the 45-year-old woman, as well as on how the crime was planned.

Among other things, officers are looking for electronic devices, documents and any other material that could help reconstruct his final movements and the communications he had before heading to Nea Smyrni.

At the same time, investigators are examining the mobile phones and online activity of both individuals, in order to establish whether there had been any prior tension, meeting or contact that could be linked to what followed.

Posed with weapons on social media

As part of the investigation, the man’s presence on social media is also being examined. He had posted photographs of himself posing with weapons, a detail that is expected to be assessed alongside the rest of the evidence to determine whether the guns shown in the posts are in any way linked to the revolver found at the scene.

At the same time, the authorities are examining phone records and the recent movements of both individuals in an effort to clarify what happened in the hours before the murder.

“I heard three gunshots”

Local residents say they heard the gunshots at around 5:30am.

“My neighbour said she heard the gunshots at dawn. This is my parents’ house, and I heard three gunshots at around 5:30 in the morning,” said a woman who was in the area at the time, adding that she had not heard any vehicle or noticed anything else.

Another resident described three very loud bangs, a few seconds apart.

“I was asleep, but not deeply, at home. Suddenly we heard three very loud bangs. We did not know whether they were gunshots or not, but they were extremely loud. I counted three. They were not one after another straight away, there was a gap of three, four, five seconds between each one,” she said.

She added that she heard police sirens a short time later, without initially realising what had happened.

“A short while later we heard a patrol car siren. It felt like something had fallen from a great height. I don’t know, because it’s on the parallel street and there are blocks of flats in between, so we didn’t go out to look or anything. I didn’t believe it, it didn’t cross my mind that it was a gunshot, but it was…,” she said.

The case is being handled by the relevant department of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, with officers gathering witness statements, video footage and any other evidence that might shed light on the background to the couple’s relationship and the events leading up to the murder.

Victim’s mother expresses complete shock

The mother of the murder victim is in a state of shock. The elderly woman learned of her daughter’s death a short time before, when the victim’s sister called to inform her.

Answering journalists’ questions, the victim’s mother repeated over and over that she knew nothing, as she wept saying that her daughter had not spoken to her about any romantic relationship she may have been in.

“I know nothing. She hadn’t told me anything about this. I’ve only just found out about my daughter. My other daughter called me and told me a little while ago. She hadn’t spoken to me about her relationship. She and her ex-husband separated a long time ago,” said the woman, tears in her eyes and her voice breaking.