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Murder of 5 hunters stuns Greece

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ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Greek authorities are investigating one of the country's most mysterious murder cases after a family of hunters was killed over the weekend while pursuing their hobby in the plains of central Greece.

Police said the five men, aged between 17 and 33, had each been shot at least twice in what appeared to have been an execution-style killing on Saturday in the woodlands of Kalyvia, 280 kilometers (175 miles) northwest of Athens, the Greek capital.

No motive has yet been established and authorities have set up roadblocks as far north as the Albanian border, scouring the region for clues that may solve the unprecedented case.

"We have never seen anything like this heinous crime," said regional police chief Vassilis Tsiatouras. "It's unprecedented."

The five hunters set off for their hunting trip Saturday afternoon. Later that night, the youngest member, Alexi Nikolopoulos, tried telephoning his father to raise alarm but his call was cut off abruptly.

Within hours, his father found the bodies lying in a pool of blood, each shot at least twice by the assailants.

The body of the 17-year-old who tried to alert his father as found a short distance from the other victims.

"I now realize that that he was probably running for his life when he was calling," the victim's father, George Nikolopoulos, told a local television network.

The murders stunned the local community and sent shock waves across the country as national television networks broke into scheduling programming throughout the weekend to broadcast details of the grisly murders.

With its exceptionally low rate of violent crime, Greece is considered one of Europe's safest countries.

Authorities on Monday said they were not ruling out a vendetta. They conceded, however, that that the young men had most likely stumbled on criminal activity and as probable witnesses, were thus eliminated.

Journalist Anthee Carassava contributed to this report.

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