Three employees of a Greek shipping company were shot dead at its head office in Athens on Monday morning by a lone Egyptian shooter who later turned the gun on himself.
According to Greek newspaper Proto Thema, the gunman was a 70-year-old former employee of the shipping company and used his unrevoked staff pass to enter the office building on Artemisiou Street armed with a carbine.
He is believed to have shot three people dead, including the company’s managing director, Antonis Vlassakis, the owner’s sister, Maria Karnesi, and accountant Ilias Koukoularis.
The shooter was found dead by authorities in the basement of the office a short time later with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“I was in the office. He purposefully went to kill the bosses,” one staff member told local media.
Counter-terror police were dispatched to the office building shortly after 11 a.m. local time, with negotiators believing the shooter to still be alive and conducting a hostage situation.
Local reports named the gunman as El Burai, an Egyptian national who had recently been fired by the company. He had reportedly been a caretaker for the family house of the company’s owner for many years.
A pistol was also found in the suspect’s car outside the office building.
“The suspected perpetrator, who worked for the family, was found dead in a different area from the three deceased people at the company. He had his assault weapon next to him and appears to have shot himself in the head,” police spokesperson Consantia Dimoglidou said.
Police have cordoned off the area in the Greek capital and investigations are ongoing.
