Former employee of Greek shipping company kills 3 in shooting incident

By Alkis Konstantinidis

ATHENS (Reuters) -A disgruntled former employee shot dead the head of a Greek shipping company and two others before killing himself at the firm’s office in Athens on Monday, a police spokeswoman said.

Police, fire engines and ambulances were stationed outside the offices of European Navigation in a southern suburb of the capital. Earlier, anti-terrorism forces entered the building, Reuters reporters at the scene said.

Among the dead was European Navigation’s owner, said police spokeswoman Konstantina Dimoglidou, who didn’t name the victim.

“We were at our desks working, we heard shots,” an employee who did not identify herself told the Proto Thema news website. She said the gunman had told employees to leave.

The gunman, a 76-year old former employee, was found dead in another area of the building to the victims, two men and a woman, police said.

Dimoglidou said that next to the shooter “was the weapon of his unlawful act and he had probably shot himself.”

Shootings, outside of gang-related activity, are rare in Greece, which has strict laws over gun possession.

Police, who had cordoned off the area, said they were investigating the incident.

(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris, Yannis Souliotis, Renee Maltezou; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Edward McAllister)