A family tragedy unfolded on Thursday in a home on Vouliagmenis Avenue at Elliniko, a suburb of Athens, after a retired air force lieutenant, aged 87, shot and killed his 50-year-old wife before turning the gun on himself.
According to neighbours, the couple had only been married for a year and met while the 50-year-old Bulgarian woman was looking after the husband’s former wife. In recent weeks they had been heard arguing on a daily basis and neighbours say it was over property and finances.
On Thursday morning the couple was arguing inside their house before the elderly retired man grabbed a gun and shot his wife. The woman then ran outside the home with blood all over her and was screaming for help. A few minutes later she collapsed in the middle of the road while trying to get into a cab.
Reports claim the 87-year-old also ran out of the house, saw the woman fall down in a pool of blood and that is when he shot himself.
Neighbours called the ambulance and when they arrived the couple was still alive and taken to the nearest hospital. Doctors tried to save them, however, the injuries were severe and both died a few hours later.