One dead in gangland shooting (updated)

Well known businessman Andreas Rodotheou was shot dead in Limassol in what appears to be yet another gangland shooting, reports said on Wednesday.

The shooting took place on Wednesday, close to 9pm, at an orchard just outside the village of Gerasa. The 61-year-old had been visiting a friend, reports said. There were three other people at the scene when the incident happened.

The shooter or shooters apparently fired shots at him with an automatic weapon. He was rushed to hospital where he died. Limassol CID chief Ioannis Soteriades said Rodotheou had suffered several gun shot wounds.

A strong police force were scouring the surrounding area for leads.

Rodotheou’s name had been mentioned recently during the trial of four people for last summer’s murder of Ayia Napa businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis and three other people.

Alexis Mavromichalis, himself a well known figure, testified that he suspected Rodotheou and Giorgos Phenek wanted Kalopsidiotis dead because they had professional differences.

Kalopsidiotis, according to Mavromichalis, considered the pair responsible for his father’s murder in 2014 and a gangland hit in the summer of 2012 that saw five people killed.

It was said at the time that the shooters were trying to kill Kalopsidiotis.