COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The suspect who allegedly stabbed a Pentagon officer to death on Tuesday had previously attacked deputies at the Cobb County Jail, according to warrants.
Austin William Lanz, 27, was reportedly shot and killed during a struggle over the officer's gun after he allegedly stabbed Officer George Gonzalez, who died in the attack.
According to Cobb County warrants, Lanz was charged in April this year with two felony counts of aggravated battery of an officer.
While getting processed at the Cobb County Sheriff's Office Adult Detention Center, warrants state Lanz attacked two deputies - leaving one with a dislocated thumb and the other with a chipped bone and torn ACL in her right knee.
The warrant states Lanz "attacked (the deputy) without warning or provocation" while the deputy was "attempting to house said accused in T-Pad 1 of the intake area" of the jail. Lanz "had to be restrained by multiple deputies," according to the warrant.
"During attempts to restrain said accused he verbally stated he wanted to fight all the present deputies, stating the deputies were 'gay' for ganging up on him and asking to have his restraints removed so he could fight them one-on-one," the warrant states.
Lanz was charged with six felonies in all over the incident, including obstruction, riot in a penal institution, criminal damage (for breaking a deputy's Taser) and terroristic threats, in addition to the aggravated battery charges.
A second warrant indicates Lanz was arrested early on the morning of April 24, on criminal trespass and first-degree burglary charges for his neighbor's house.
He was caught on camera, according to the warrant, "(forcing) the rear door of the residence open and (entering) the home with what appears to be a crowbar in hand."
The warrant states he was in the house for 13 minutes and did not take anything, and upon his arrest made "statements about police having planes flying over the neighborhood" and "that we had been tracking his phone."
Six days earlier, he had been given a criminal trespass warning for allegedly "leaving inappropriate photographs and notes in the mailbox of said victim's residence."
Lanz was released from the Cobb County Jail on July 18 on a $30,000 bond, after a judge reduced his bond from $45,000. He was ordered to have a mental health evaluation within 30 days of leaving jail.
The Pretrial Services office for Cobb County Magistrate Court released this statement to 11Alive:
"Mr. Lanz was released from custody on July 18, 2021. He was ordered to complete the evaluation within 30 days of release, which had not yet passed before this terrible tragedy occurred. If the evaluation had not been received within 30 days, his supervising Pretrial Officer would have filed a petition to revoke his bond and return Mr. Lanz into custody at that time."
A motive for Tuesday's attack on the Pentagon Force Protection Agency officer, or why and how Lanz made his way from the metro Atlanta area to Washington D.C., are not yet known.
The Marines also confirmed he enlisted in 2012 but was "administratively separated" from the Corps after less than a month. He never earned the title of Marine.