Since 1992, when Joel Schumacher directed Michael Douglas in the film Falling Down, the question “what would happen if someone suddenly decided ‘enough is enough,’ grabbed a weapon and started taking revenge on society at large?” has ceased to be purely theoretical.

In Falling Down, millions of people worldwide identified with the character played by Michael Douglas—a man who snapped, exploded, and transformed from victim into a relentless avenger. The film captured a suppressed urge and a fantasy: the fantasy of someone who feels wronged, ignored, discarded by the system. A person who breaks and lashes out indiscriminately.

In the cinematic Falling Down, the protagonist is a man in his forties who reaches his breaking point. The core idea is essentially the same as in the famous and much earlier Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese starring Robert De Niro: an ordinary, subdued citizen becomes fed up with his inability to adapt or force the system to treat him as he believes he deserves, and transforms into a savage force. From a harmless sheep, he becomes a raging wolf.

Greece’s own “Falling Down”

Yesterday, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, Greece experienced its own very real version of Falling Down.

With the internal explosion that removed all restraints in the protagonist’s mind, any rational judgment also collapsed. Whether his demand for a third or fourth pension from the Greek state was fair or logical became irrelevant. For him—and for his unsuspecting victims—it was time for the sawed-off shotgun to speak.

In his letter, the now notorious 89-year-old Panagiotis K., like a real-life version of the character played by Michael Douglas, lays out his story. Part will, part proclamation, and indirectly a kind of manifesto, he writes:

“I am Panagiotis K. I was born in Messinia in 1937 and served in the army in 1959. In 1962 I went to Berlin for work and school. In 1970 I moved to Chicago. In 2005 I applied for a pension in Chicago and America granted it within two months. I also submitted my German documents and within six months received my German pension.

“At the same office and time, I also submitted my Greek IKA documents. The Americans said they would send them to Greece. From the moment they arrived in Greece, major problems began with the Greek IKA and courts.

“The Greek IKA insulted me and called me a ‘janissary’ for coming to Greece and asking for a pension. They committed forgery and sabotage, informing the German side that I would not receive a Greek pension.

“P.S.: Public services, courts, and IKA treated me like a stray dog. And I, the dog, have now gone mad and will go bite them so they feel it too.”

Who is “The Madman”

According to his account, Panagiotis K. left Greece young to study and work in Germany for 8 years, then moved to the United States, where he stayed for about 40 years.

After returning to Greece, he could not resolve his pension status. While he received pensions from Germany and the U.S., his request for a successive pension in Greece was rejected by EFKA and the courts because he did not meet the requirements. He still received a small Greek pension of about €360 per month, while his U.S. pension reportedly amounted to about $2,400 monthly.

The refusal of the Greek state turned him into a would-be avenger. His attacks at EFKA and the Court of Appeals were premeditated and had been foreshadowed by repeated threats. As early as 2018, he had left ammunition in a prosecutor’s office, and psychiatric authorities had considered him potentially dangerous.

Despite this, he had once been granted a firearm license (later revoked). That did not stop him. He entered EFKA wearing a trench coat to conceal a sawed-off shotgun. When arrested in Patras, he also carried a .38 revolver with a filed-off serial number.

He first went to the EFKA building, demanded his pension again, and after receiving the expected refusal, opened fire, injuring an employee. He then traveled about 5 km to the Court of Appeals, where he fired again, injuring four women.

He later fled but was arrested in Patras, thwarting his plan to travel to Strasbourg and continue his “revenge” at a higher level.

It is possible that, believing his age might grant him legal immunity due to diminished responsibility, he proceeded with his plan feeling protected. Ironically, he sought revenge against the state while relying on its tolerance.

Today, he is expected to appear before the prosecutor.