Man kills son and wife’s mother
A 45-year-old unemployed man with a history of mental problems shot and killed his 6-year-old son and 76-year-old mother-in-law in front of his wheelchair-bound wife in their home near Volos, central Greece, early yesterday morning, police said. Michalis Psaris also shot his other son, aged 8, in the leg and shot himself in both legs after the alleged killing spree. It was unclear if he had been trying to commit suicide. Both he and his elder son were yesterday in the hospital, neither in serious condition. The murder weapon was a single-barreled shotgun which is legally registered in Psaris’s name despite his mental problems, police said. It was yesterday unclear what had provoked Psaris to lash out against his family, although police believe it may have been triggered by an argument with his mother-in-law who lived with them in the village of Nea Achialo. The 45-year-old has been treated in clinics for mental problems and is currently dependent on anti-depressant drugs, officers said. His wife has been confined to a wheelchair for the past few years due to a rare muscle-wasting disease which normally requires hospital treatment. The family had been living on the wife’s pension and occasional handouts from the local church and fellow villagers, neighbors said. First-aid workers yesterday tried to take the wife to the hospital for treatment but she refused, insisting on remaining at home.
