Galery

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A pupil with a sword in his hand horrified his classmates and teachers and wounded two people before the police caught him. The 18-year-old pupil of Polish descent broke into the school complex in the Athens suburb of Maroussi shortly after 11.00 am. He pulled out a 80-cm sword and headed to the principal’s office in a state of amok. Before entering the building, he had met the deputy principal of the school, with whom he quarreled violently and subsequently wounded him. In an attempt to calm him, the deputy principal tried to lock the door of the school. The attacking pupil, however, surprised him and climbed the drainpipe to come down again in the schoolyard.

Then, the 18-year-old headed to the flagpole. He pulled it down, threw the flag on the ground and then, raised his shirt in its place. Next, he ran to two other flagpoles and pulled them down too. Then he saw the guard of the school before him and wounded her slightly with the sword.

Police arrived within minutes and managed to neutralize the pupil very quickly. According to the classmates of the 18-year-old pupil, the police as well as the school employees used excessive violence to hold him down.

The two people injured were taken to hospital to have first aid and were subsequently discharged.

The attacker’s classmates said that he was very popular at school, quiet and friendly. He had even been elected a member of the pupil council.

According to the principal of the school, Konstantinos Dimogerondas, however, the 18-year-old boy had psychological problems and was in conflict with his mother. He claims that the 18-year-old had complained he was the victim of beatings by her husband. Sources from the school say that a social worker - a psychologist who works at the school – had seen the boy and since last year he had remained in the same class due to absences. He had continued to not appear in class and this school year, there had been a real danger of him remaining in the same class again. The same sources claim that the attacker has been following a specific treatment plan.

The classmates of the 18-year-old boy claim that the statements of the principal and other representatives of the school authorities were inaccurate and that they will emphasize this in their statements to the police.

The attacker was taken to a police station in Maroussi where an interrogation was carried out to determine the reason for the attack. It is not yet clear whether he had brought the sword that day or had hidden it somewhere in school during the previous days. In the course of the investigation, teachers and his family will give their testimony.