Determined to kill and be killed was the 70-year-old Egyptian man who stormed the offices of the shipping company of the Karnessis family in Glyfada on Monday morning and, brandishing a shotgun, began taking lives.
Those killed by his gunfire included the sister of shipowner Spyros Karnessis, Maria Karnessis, the shipping company’s managing director, Antonis Vlassakis, who was married to Maria Karnessis’ sister, and former captain and company accountant Elias Koukoularis.
Maria Karnessi pictured above
According to reports, shortly before opening fire, the perpetrator allegedly said, addressing the company’s executives, “I have come to settle accounts”.
As it follows from the reports of the EL.AS. and eyewitnesses, the 70-year-old had been an employee of the company for 36 years and had recently been fired.
Something he apparently could never accept and decided to get his revenge.
He arrived at the business shortly after 10.00 am in a silver Nissan X-trail and reportedly told the guard, in a calm tone, that he had come in order to settle some unfinished business.
The former captain and employee in the accounting department of the company, Elias Koukoularis
He parked the vehicle in the basement and, via the staircase, went up to the first floor where he was confronted by his victims. He raised the shotgun and, without hesitation, took their lives.
He then returned to the basement and ended his life. It is reported that Maria Karnesi was shot in the head and chest, her son-in-law in the head and the captain in the shoulder.
Two employees of the company were evacuated to the General Hospital “Asclepion of Voula” in order to receive first aid, as they were in a bad psychological condition.
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The police statement Today, Monday, February 12, 2024 at 10:11 am, the Rapid Response Center was informed by an employee of a shipping company in Glyfada, who was inside the premises, about a shooting incident.
Police officers from the local Police Department, the Direct Action, the O.P.K.E., the Traffic Police and the Attica Security Directorate were immediately mobilized, while a team of the E.K.A.M. and a negotiator of the Greek Police arrived at the scene. Police officers cordoned off the area around the company and then a coordinated police operation was carried out inside the building, during which two female employees of the company were rescued.
It was established that a 70-year-old man, a former employee, entered the building and, in possession of a shotgun, fired, fatally wounding three persons who were on the first floor of the building.
Subsequently, the 70-year-old was found fatally wounded in a storage room in the basement of the premises. The shotgun he was carrying was found next to him.
In a search of the vehicle in which the offender had travelled to the company, a revolver was found.
In the photo published by protothema.gr we can see the SWAT men seconds before they entered the building, as the initial information wanted the perpetrator to have holed up on the second floor of the company’s offices.
According to the spokeswoman of the National Police, the first police officers, the SWAT team, arrived at Artemisiou Street two minutes after the call for a firefight incident.
Immediately afterwards, the ELAS spokeswoman said, an ELAS negotiator and SWAT men arrived and extricated employees before the shooter was eventually found dead with a head wound.
