An 89-year-old gunman arrested for wounding five people in two shootings in Athens appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday (April 29) with his lawyer saying he acted in "protest and despair" against Greek public services.

The man opened fire on Tuesday (April 28) with a shotgun at a branch of Greece’s EFKA social security agency, wounding an employee in the leg before travelling by taxi to a court building where he fired several more shots, lightly wounding four female court clerks.

He was later arrested in a hotel in the city of Patras, some 200 km (124 miles) from Athens.

"It was an act of protest and despair," his lawyer, Vassilis Noulezas, told Reuters.

Noulezas said the man worked for 40 years as an engineer in Chicago and was previously hospitalized at a psychiatric clinic in Athens. He had applied for a supplementary pension in Greece but his request was rejected, he said.

A public prosecutor on Wednesday charged the man with attempted murder and illegal possession of a gun.

Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis late on Tuesday admitted that there were security gaps at some court buildings but that Greece was a safe country overall.

EFKA and court workers walked out on Wednesday to protest over security after the shooting incident.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

ATHENS, GREECE (APRIL 29, 2026)(REUTERS – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF CAR ENTERING ATHENS COURTHOUSE WITH SUSPECT, POLICE ACCOMPANYING VEHICLE ON MOTORCYCLE

2. POLICE OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE

3. COURTHOUSE SIGN

4. POLICE CAR

5. VARIOUS OF COURTHOUSE

6. COURT WORKERS PROTESTING OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE

7. VARIOUS OF COURT WORKERS MARCHING AROUND COURTHOUSE

8. PROTESTERS WITH BANNER READING: (Greek): “We are fighting for real wages increases and hirings and human working conditions.”

9. VARIOUS OF COURT EMPLOYEES AT PROTEST

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) COURT EMPLOYEE DIMITRA GOUTRA SAYING:

“Shots were heard from office 23, unfortunately I knew people in that office, I don’t know much more, just that measures really need to be taken for our security. It is one of the biggest courts in the country, it is not possible for there not to be security for employees, or for citizens, lawyers, or judges.”

11. PROTESTERS MARCHING

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) COURT EMPLOYEE VASSILIKI PAPATHEODOROU, 38, SAYING:

“We are afraid, we were terrified. There are no security measures, in the courthouse. We demand better conditions, we are not disposable, and we want to come and to be able to work with safety.”

13. PROTESTERS MARCHING

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) COURT EMPLOYEE DIMITRIS LIATSOS SAYING:

“We feel fear and anxiety when we go to work. We don’t know who will enter and with what. If you enter the building you will see there is no security. Further to that the least that could happen is for there to be a control, I don’t mean for entrance to be banned to the courts, the procedures are open, but whoever it is to be checked for who they are.''

15. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS

16. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CLOSING THE ROAD

17. VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEES RETURNING TO THE COURT