Cypriot in US murder suicide

A GREEK Cypriot man living in the United States killed his former Greek-American partner of 10 years and shot himself at a diner in New York state on Sunday.

Demetris Zodiatis, 39, shot and killed mother of three Archontoula Yiannacopoulos, 47, at the ‘Oasis’ diner that she owned in a town called Patchogue, shortly after 6.30am.

According to reports in American newspapers, Yiannacopoulos arrived for work at around 6.25am and unlocked the door to let the cook inside.

Moments later, her estranged boyfriend Zodiatis, known as Jimmy, entered the diner carrying a flower box from which he pulled a shotgun.

After a struggle, Zodiatis shot and killed Yiannacopoulos and then turned the gun on himself.

According to Newsday, police found their bodies, with gunshot wounds to their heads, lying within 15 feet of each other on the diner floor. They had lived together for more than a decade until Zodiatis moved out last month when they broke up. At the time, Zodiatis had threatened suicide.

Employees and relatives of Yiannacopoulos were stunned by her death.

“She was one of the greatest people you ever met,” Colleen Selvaggio, a former employee told Newsday. “She was a very sweet lady, a very dedicated mother, a good friend.”

Yiannacopoulos had two sons, Billy and Bob, and a daughter Patty who was scheduled to be married in the next few weeks, police said. Zodiatis had been staying with friends since the break up, they said.

Jose Escobar, 33, a cook at the Oasis, who had come in with Yiannacopoulos, was in the kitchen when the shooting took place.

He came out when he heard yelling and screaming from inside the restaurant, and saw Yiannacopoulos and Zodiatis “locked almost in an embrace”.

“I saw he had something in the hand, I don’t know what it is,” Escobar said. “The boss told me to get out.”

Escobar said he ran out to a petrol station next door, where the attendants called police but by the time anyone arrived the couple were both dead.