Residents of Agrinio and all of Greece are watching in horror as developments unfold around the cold-blooded murder in the community of Lithovouni, Aetolia-Acarnania, due to romantic jealousy. The perpetrator, a 44-year-old man, killed the 50-year-old with whom he had maintained a years-long friendship before reaching the fatal point.
This friendship dissolved, there was a brief truce, but ultimately yesterday in the fatal encounter the 44-year-old murdered the 50-year-old community president and father of one child with a rifle. According to sources, perpetrator and victim had temporarily put their differences aside recently, but it appears that the problems connected to a woman had not been definitively resolved.
Agrinio: “Come get me from home, I killed him”
The perpetrator called police and immediately confessed to the crime. “Come get me from home, I killed him,” he told the officers while confessing his act. According to witness testimony, in the morning hours the victim was at a local café when he saw the perpetrator’s vehicle pass in front of him, moving toward the Saint Andrew area. There was tension there and the perpetrator followed the victim. With hunting ammunition he fatally wounded the community leader, whose vehicle moved out of control for about 70 meters before ending up in a field. The victim was found face down toward the passenger seat. Next to him was the hunting rifle.
“He was aiming the rifle at me from inside the car and I was afraid he would kill me. I got there first. If I hadn’t done it, he would have,” the 44-year-old confessed perpetrator told police, describing what unfolded Saturday morning. He told officers he was moving to the murder site for livestock work when – according to his claims – the victim appeared with the weapon in his hands.
However, police are carefully examining what the 44-year-old claims and estimate there are gaps in his descriptions. The victim’s car was hit while in motion and there are doubts about whether the victim had raised the hunting weapon, which was found next to him in the car seat. The vehicle was removed from the murder site and will be transferred to forensic laboratories for thorough ballistic investigation. From the bursts of the fatal weapon, the rear window was shattered while both the front and rear of the vehicle show ammunition marks. The 44-year-old’s hunting rifle had wild boar ammunition. Also being investigated is whether he actually went there for another reason as he claimed and not because he was hunting the victim.
Strong police forces at both families’ homes
The tragic incident occurred Saturday morning in a rural area outside Mesarista in Agrinio, when the 44-year-old murder perpetrator shot his former 50-year-old friend with a rifle. According to what has become known so far about the crime, the two had known each other for many years and were friends in the past, however personal issues came between them, as authorities cite romantic jealousy.
A few hours after the murder, according to agriniopress.gr sources, the 44-year-old surrendered himself to police saying “come get me from home, I killed him,” and reportedly also surrendered the rifle with which he shot the 50-year-old. Since then, strong police forces and OPKE officers have been deployed outside both families’ homes, as there are fears of possible retaliation. Finally, the 44-year-old is expected to be brought before prosecutor and investigator in Messolonghi.
The murder timeline
According to sources, Saturday morning in Lithovouni Agrinio, the 44-year-old perpetrator reportedly set an ambush for the victim, who received wild boar ammunition multiple times. Regarding the murder motives, it’s estimated that the two men were separated by personal differences, although they maintained friendly relations in the past.
“Some expected it,” reports SKAI, citing information from locals of both the victim and the perpetrator of the Agrinio murder. The report states that everything began when the victim’s wife left their home to live in Patras with the perpetrator. She changed her mind and wanted to return to her home. That’s when the major confrontation between the two men began.
Saturday morning, the victim was drinking coffee at the village café, until the perpetrator’s car passed in front of him, who was likely returning from hunting. There they reportedly – according to the same report – had an argument. The perpetrator continued and the victim took his own car and followed him. There is no eyewitness to the murder but from police autopsy it appears the perpetrator stopped and shot the victim’s car that followed him in the windshield with the rifle. In the following seconds, the car ended up in a field and the perpetrator went to the rear and shot two more times with wild boar ammunition.
