…from the Military Times
[ Editor’s Note: So we have this loon who travels all the way from Georgia to DC and then stabs the first cop that he sees. Conflicting reports are saying that other officers shot Lanz, versus him offing himself with his victim’s gun. Good riddance to Austin… JD]
First published … August 04, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — As officials seek clues about what prompted a Georgia man to fatally stab a Pentagon police officer, details of the suspect’s troubled past emerged Wednesday through interviews and court records.
Austin William Lanz, 27, was arrested last April for a break-in at a neighbor’s home and drew police attention months earlier for an ongoing harassment campaign involving sexually explicit photos and messages, according to interviews and records obtained by The Associated Press.
Investigators have not revealed a motive in the ambush-style killing of Pentagon police officer George Gonzalez, 37.
But Lanz’s past brushes with the law, and neighbors’ accounts of recent menacing behavior, appear to suggest the violence was more likely the act of a troubled, violence-prone individual than part of a broader conspiracy.
“I wish there was a better way to address those mental health issues that people have,” said Phillip Brent, who shared a backyard fence with Lanz in Georgia and describes repeated harassment directed at himself and his then-fiancee. “It feels like it was just a clear failure of our system to help someone out who needed that help.”
The FBI on Wednesday said the burst of violence began around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday when Lanz exited a bus at the Pentagon Transit Center and immediately stabbed Gonzalez without provocation. The two struggled and Lanz shot himself with Gonzalez’s weapon. Other “officers engaged the subject, who ultimately died at the scene,” the FBI said.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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