A Limassol man kills his son Odysseas Themistocleous after a family argument over a trivial matter, according to police information.

The two men argued over using the family car at 2.30pm on Wednesday October 14th, and during the fight the father picked up a shotgun and shot his 19-year-old son in the abdomen, say police. The 70-year-old father was also injured during the fight, and is in hospital after suffering a heart attack. If Timoleon Themistocleous survives, an arrest warrant is waiting for him upon his release from hospital.

A police spokesman said the family tragedy was reported by the victim’s 21-year-old brother, Alexander, who heard the shots at the family home in the tiny village of Paramytha. Alexander, a former member of the military police and a body builder, wrestled the gun from his father and hit him over the head with it during the struggle, but it was too late, his brother lay dead on the ground.

Shock

The murder has sent shock waves through Cyprus, which mourns over a man lost too young and asks whether the crime could have been prevented. It has also revived the debate over gun control - with the many hunters in Cyprus there are increased chances of family murders, and multiple tragic cases in the past support this view.

Paramytha village has just 343 residents, surely there were earlier signs of trouble, asks the media and citizens. But tight-knit village communities are not open to the outside world, and the family’s troubles could have been hidden from the social welfare system, although reports are emerging that they had serious financial difficulties and that the father had threatened his sons in the past. Too many questions remain, however.

A police source told CyprusNewsReport there is information that the relationship between the father and sons was antagonistic and the situation was very explosive in the end. The father - Timoleon Themistocleous - had not come to the police’s attention in the past, according to our source, who adds that the homicide detectives would not be the first to be notified if there was domestic abuse reported in the home. It would be the job of the village police to answer calls of this type - if any of the family members had reported it in the first place.

Another report in the Greek media says that Timoleon Themistocleous shot another of his sons by his ex-wife in the leg. The report doesn’t cite a source, and has not been confirmed by CyprusNewsReport.com.

Athlete

The young man was a national guardsman, and on leave when he was murdered. Odysseas, who loved bodybuilding and was an athlete, went to Ayia Fylaxios high school where he was a popular kid.

“How unjustly we’re losing our young people. So many young souls are leaving us without reason. Have a good journey, dear Odysseas and may the soil that covers you be light. RIP,” writes one of his friends in a tribute on Facebook.

“My brother, my hero,” reads Alexander’s tribute to his brother.

Earlier signs of violence?

In other related developments, an animal activist told CyprusNewsReport.com and several other media companies via Facebook that the same suspect - Timoleon Themistocleous - allegedly shot and injured a dog nicknamed Amber in Paramytha village in June 2015.

The village police took no action except to contact the vet and ask him to keep evidence of the shooting, according to the activist. In addition, any weapons were not confiscated despite eyewitness accounts from a neighboring woman that a man shot the stray dog full of pellets in public. Amber was rescued, treated by a vet and removed from the village, later finding a home in the UK, says the animal activist.

Denial

An official police statement denies that the cases are linked. While confirming that someone in the village did shoot the dog, the house belonging to the woman who reported it and Themistocleous’ house are not in the same neighborhood, police told CyprusNewsReport.com. Themistocleous lives on the other side of the village to the woman who reported the dog shooting, says Inspector John Soteriades of Limassol CID.

Why?

Why did Timoleon shoot his son? Is it possible that he just picked up his shotgun one day and killed him out of the blue without there being any history of abuse? For the time being there are no confirmed answers.

All families have problems, and it’s not always possible to predict if someone will turn violent, says Mr. Soteriades.

“Our information is that he never saw a psychologist and was not the kind of person to do such a thing,” Soteriades told CyprusNewsReport.com.

But the lack of official paperwork doesn’t mean there wasn’t violence in the household. Similar denials come from the local police station at Kalo Choriou: ‘there were no allegations and no information against him’, a village policeman told CyprusNewsReport.com.

Door closes

The police are still investigating the motive behind the tragedy, and send their deepest condolences to the family, says Mr. Soteriades, in a statement that closes the door on any further questions.

Odysseas’ funeral is on Saturday the 17th of October in Paramytha village.