A witness has described seeing a Limassol police officer hold a woman by the throat inside a car shortly before he allegedly shot her and then turned the gun on himself, in an account given to philenews of the incident that left a police officer dead and his wife critically injured on Tuesday morning.
According to the witness, he was driving past the scene on Ilision Street in Zakaki, outside a school, at around 6:45am on his way to work when he saw a man in a vehicle holding a woman by the throat.
He says he shouted at the man to let her go, and that the man told him to leave, saying it was his wife, before turning to the woman and telling her to tell the witness he wasn’t doing anything to her.
The witness says the woman then gestured with her hand that she needed help. He claims the man then drew a pistol from his waist, pointed it at him and threatened him, saying: “Leave, I’ll shoot you.”
The witness alleges that immediately afterwards, the man shot the woman before turning the gun on himself. According to his account, the man was wearing police attire, and the incident took place in the middle of the road, outside a school. He said the man shot the woman in the head, followed by three more shots to her body.
CID Limassol said in a statement that it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the police officer, found dead in Limassol on Tuesday morning, alongside the shooting injury to a woman who was taken to hospital and remains intubated.
CID Limassol said it was at the scene investigating the incident, and that the Limassol Police Director would make statements at the scene later in the day. The scene has been cordoned off and examinations are under way, police said.
The woman was initially reported to have died, but according to later information she was collected by ambulance and taken to hospital, where doctors found vital signs and intubated her. She remains in extremely critical condition.
