AG orders probe into death of man shot in leg by police officer (Update 2)

Attorney-general Costas Clerides on Friday appointed a criminal investigator after a 39-year-old Iranian man died in Limassol after being shot in both legs by a police officer.

The 39-year-old attacked the officer with a pickaxe and an adze police said on Friday.

They are treating the attack as attempted murder.

Clerides has given the investigator two months to report.

According to police, officers were notified at 3.30pm on Thursday by a resident of Apesia, Limassol that somebody damaged his car.

Other villagers complained a 39-year-old man was holding an axe and an adze in his hands and said they were concerned about his mental state.

Three officers who went to the scene found the man outside his house with the weapons in his hands.

One of them approached the suspect and tried to talk to him but the 39-year-old man threatened to kill the police officer.

A second officer fired a warning shot into the air but the man attacked and beat his shoulder and face with the axe, whereupon another of second officers shot him in the legs to protect his colleague.

Residents took the injured police officer to Limassol general hospital where he was treated for head injuries and discharged.

The 39-year-old was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

While he was in the process of being taken from the first aid department to the operating room at around 9pm he had a heart attack and died.

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