A man from Cyprus shot his wife and young daughter to death before fatally turning the gun on himself on Wednesday. The man also shot his son who is being hospitalized in critical condition. The man was suffering psychological problems and his condition deteriorated after he lost custody of his children.
The 41-year-old electrician, Andreas Pittis, shot and killed his ex-wife Margarita and his 9-year-old daughter and injured his 14-year-old son who was transferred to the Nicosia General Hospital in critical condition. The boy sustained two gunshot wounds, one in the lung and one in the leg.
The shooting took place outside Pittis house at around 4:00 pm, when his ex-wife had arrived to drop off their children. According to police and eye witnesses, the man had a heated argument with his ex-wife, then took his army-issued G3 automatic rifle and shot her as she got in the car.
The man stood in front of the car and shot his wife through the windshield. The two children who were sitting on the back seat opened the doors and tried to escape. Pittis shot and killed his daughter and then chased after his son. After shooting him in the back, he shot himself.
Neighbors said Pittis was a troubled man but he never spoke of his problems as he was a very introverted person.
The tragic incident has once again opened the debate of issuing firearms to reservists in Cyprus as similar crimes have occurred in the past. On October 19, the then Defence Minister Photis Photiou had announced a number of measures to deal with the problem. He had made clear that his aim was “to stop the practice of giving anyone an army-issue weapon.”
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