Greece: Funeral held for Roma teen shot during police chase

By VASSILIS KOMMATAS and KOSTAS KANTOURIS
Associated Press

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of mourners have gathered in northern Greece for the funeral of a Roma teenager who died days after being shot in the head during a police chase over an unpaid gas station bill. The death of 16-year-old Kostas Frangoulis, who leaves behind a young wife and baby, triggered days of protests which often turned violent, despite calls for restraint by the teenager’s family and Roma community leaders. The Roma community has denounced the shooting as racially motivated. Police have said the youth attempted to ram police motorbikes chasing his pickup truck. The officer involved has said he fired because he feared for the lives of his colleagues but had been aiming at the truck’s tires, not the driver.