The FBI identified Wednesday, August 4 the author of the knife attack the day before against a Pentagon police officer who died of his injuries, without explaining the reasons for his action.
US Federal Police said Austin William Lanz, 27, got off a bus Tuesday morning and "
immediately, without provocation
" stabbed Pentagon Protection Force officer George Gonzalez a few feet from one of the entrances. from the headquarters of the United States Army.
Read also: United States: a police officer killed in an attack a few meters from the Pentagon
"
A fight ensued, in which the individual fatally wounded police officer Gonzalez and then shot himself with the police officer's service weapon
," the FBI said in a statement.
Other police officers then intervened and Austin Lanz, originally from Georgia, in the south of the United States, died at the scene, added the federal police.
She did not say whether the other police had used their guns, but several witnesses reported multiple shots being fired.
Gonzalez was taken to hospital, but he did not survive.
A witness was hospitalized with milder injuries and was quickly released from the hospital, according to the FBI. The police did not mention any possible motive for this attack. Austin Lanz had a heavy criminal record, according to local media. In particular, he had already attacked a police officer, made terrorist threats and committed a burglary.
According to the local
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, he was on bail and a judge had ordered an assessment of his mental state and addictions. The assault put the Pentagon and its thousands of employees on high alert for an hour and a half. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was not in the building at the time of the incident, ordered the Pentagon flags to be lowered to pay tribute to the slain policeman.
