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Before Austin Lanz killed a Pentagon police officer, he was accused of targeting couple next door
Mental illness has no respect for your family's income level.
Public Safety
Before Austin Lanz killed a Pentagon police officer, he was accused of targeting the couple next door
The home where Austin Lanz had lived in Acworth, Ga. (Tami Chappell/For The Washington Post)
By Justin Jouvenal
Yesterday at 1:55 p.m. EDT
Phillip Brent said he was awoken early one April morning by word someone had broken into his home in an upscale Atlanta suburb. He was away, so he quickly dialed up video from the home’s surveillance cameras on his phone. ... Brent said the video showed a masked man smashing through a back door with a sledgehammer. The intruder, who appeared armed with a crowbar, eventually left and pulled off his mask. Brent said he instantly recognized the face on the video.
He said it was a neighbor, Austin Lanz, 27; the same man the FBI said killed a Pentagon police officer without warning or provocation Tuesday on a Metro bus platform outside the military headquarters. Lanz also was killed. ... Brent said the April break-in, which resulted in Lanz’s arrest, was the culmination of a long campaign of harassment by Lanz against him and his former fiancee, Eliza Wells. The couple didn’t know Lanz personally and still don’t fully grasp the reasoning behind his fixation on them.
Brent and Wells, both 23, said the encounters were by turns menacing and bizarre, offering a glimpse of the man who carried out such a confounding attack at the Pentagon. The two said they were fearful of Lanz, but also deeply concerned about him and his mental health. ... What triggered his attack outside the Pentagon also remains unknown. In a statement released by Lanz’s family, his relatives offered condolences to the family of George Gonzalez, the slain Pentagon police officer, saying they were “sorry and heartbroken.” In an interview, the family’s attorney, Jimmy Berry, said the family knows of no motive for the attack.
“The last few months of Austin’s life were overcome with many mental health challenges,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, despite time spent in the criminal justice system with their special requirements, his hospital stays and numerous professional mental health evaluations, Austin did not receive any official diagnosis, therefore, he was unable to sufficiently deal with his mental health nor get the help he so desperately needed.”
{snip}
By Justin Jouvenal
Justin Jouvenal covers courts and policing in Fairfax County and across the nation. He joined The Post in 2009. Twitter https://twitter.com/jjouvenal
Before Austin Lanz killed a Pentagon police officer, he was accused of targeting the couple next door
The home where Austin Lanz had lived in Acworth, Ga. (Tami Chappell/For The Washington Post)
By Justin Jouvenal
Yesterday at 1:55 p.m. EDT
Phillip Brent said he was awoken early one April morning by word someone had broken into his home in an upscale Atlanta suburb. He was away, so he quickly dialed up video from the home’s surveillance cameras on his phone. ... Brent said the video showed a masked man smashing through a back door with a sledgehammer. The intruder, who appeared armed with a crowbar, eventually left and pulled off his mask. Brent said he instantly recognized the face on the video.
He said it was a neighbor, Austin Lanz, 27; the same man the FBI said killed a Pentagon police officer without warning or provocation Tuesday on a Metro bus platform outside the military headquarters. Lanz also was killed. ... Brent said the April break-in, which resulted in Lanz’s arrest, was the culmination of a long campaign of harassment by Lanz against him and his former fiancee, Eliza Wells. The couple didn’t know Lanz personally and still don’t fully grasp the reasoning behind his fixation on them.
Brent and Wells, both 23, said the encounters were by turns menacing and bizarre, offering a glimpse of the man who carried out such a confounding attack at the Pentagon. The two said they were fearful of Lanz, but also deeply concerned about him and his mental health. ... What triggered his attack outside the Pentagon also remains unknown. In a statement released by Lanz’s family, his relatives offered condolences to the family of George Gonzalez, the slain Pentagon police officer, saying they were “sorry and heartbroken.” In an interview, the family’s attorney, Jimmy Berry, said the family knows of no motive for the attack.
“The last few months of Austin’s life were overcome with many mental health challenges,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, despite time spent in the criminal justice system with their special requirements, his hospital stays and numerous professional mental health evaluations, Austin did not receive any official diagnosis, therefore, he was unable to sufficiently deal with his mental health nor get the help he so desperately needed.”
{snip}
By Justin Jouvenal
Justin Jouvenal covers courts and policing in Fairfax County and across the nation. He joined The Post in 2009. Twitter https://twitter.com/jjouvenal