The police on Thursday defended its response to complaints of repeated threats and attacks against a Cretan youth in the lead-up to his fatal shooting by a man who blamed him for the traffic death of his teenage son.
Police spokeswoman Constantia Dimoglidou said that each time officers had responded to the complaint and arrested the suspect, whom judicial authorities then released.
The 54-year-old man allegedly ambushed the 21-year-old victim in his car and shot him dead Tuesday on a road near Iraklio in central Crete, before surrendering to the police. His wife, who was allegedly present at the attack, was also charged over the killing.
According to his lawyer, the suspect blamed the victim for the death of his son, who had been a passenger in the victim’s car when it crashed into a lamp-post in 2023 severely injuring both youths. The 17-year-old died after 19 days in hospital, while the driver recovered.
But the dead youth’s father allegedly harassed, threatened and at least once tried to kill the driver before Tuesday’s shooting.
Dimoglidou told state ERT television that each time the police did their job.
“Every time the victim contacted the police he had our immediate support,” she said. “In 2024 he was attacked … and the suspect was arrested. No time at all was wasted, he was brought before the prosecutor and a shotgun for which he had a legitimate permit was confiscated. Unfortunately, he was then set free.”
Dimoglidou said the victim again contacted the police when his dead friend’s father broke a restriction order banning him from approaching the youth.
“The suspect was again arrested … and the prosecutor’s office that had imposed the restriction order was informed that he had breached it,” she said.
“But he was again set free following the prosecutor’s verbal instructions. He was never even brought before the prosecutor, even though he was in police detention, and the result was that we came to this point where the police was alerted after [the youth] had been murdered.”
Dimoglidou added that police had no reason to believe that the murder victim had been responsible for the death of his friend in the 2023 car crash.
The 54-year-old shooting suspect was charged Wednesday with murder committed in a calm frame of mind and firearms violations. The victim’s funeral was set for Thursday.