Vendetta between two families in a village on the island of Crete left at least two people dead and injured another 14, two of them in very serious condition.

Six of the injured are reportedly not related to the families and their decade-long dispute, they were just residents of the same village who tried to solve the issue when they saw the armed men standing against each other.

The mass shooting among the members of two families of the village Vorizia started at noon on Saturday, with the rivals armed with Kalashnikov weapons to fire at each other and at the surrounding houses over 2,000 bullets.

Withing minutes the narrow village street was full of bodies, with some of the rivals to flee the scene and continue the shooting in the nearby gorge.

Ambulances reached the area to transport the injured from each family to different hospitals due to the rivalry. Some were even transported on the back of pick up trucks.

Dead are a 57-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man, a father of six. The woman has allegedly died not from her injuries but from a cardiac arrest due to the shock. Both dead are from each of the rival families.

There is information also about a third dead, however, it has not been officially confirmed, so far.

Prior to the carnage at noon, there was an explosion of dynamite at early dawn in a house under construction belonging to one of the two families. This family accused the rival family that has raised objections in the past claiming this house should be not be in this specific location.

Police and teams in charge for explosives arrived at the scene and apparently left after some investigation of the material damage and because nobody was injured.

Then the locals decided to take the law in their hands…

The shooting and exchange of fire stopped when special police forces entered the village.

Those residents who did not go to the hospitals, reportedly remain in their homes and keep doors, windows and their mouths shut out of fear.

Local media report of an old dispute between the two families that allegedly involved also livestock theft. However, the real reason has not revealed until now.

They also report of a similar vendetta incident in the same village some 70 years ago, when a local threw makeshift explosives in the coffee shop killing 6 and injuring a dozen. However, this incident is not related to the one today.

Meanwhile, heavy-weight of the Greek Police is expected to arrived from Athens later on the day and start seriously investigating the issue including the (illegal) presence of so many Kalashnikov weapons.

According to some criminologists the incident does not have features of a real vendetta but rather of a “score settling” between gangs.

In its traditional meaning vendetta is the blood feud in which the family of a murdered person seeks revenge on the murderer or the murderer’s family.

Last time, a real vendetta took place in Crete for the murder of a family son took place in January 2025.