Cop killed at Pentagon transit station was Brooklyn native, Army veteran
A Pentagon cop stabbed to death on a bus platform outside the federal building on Tuesday was a US Army veteran and a Brooklyn native, authorities said.
George Gonzalez, 30, a graduate of Canarsie High School, was on patrol at the Pentagon transit hub shortly after 10:30 a.m. when Austin William Lanz, a former US Marine from Georgia, lunged at him and stabbed him in the neck, law enforcement sources told the Associated Press.
Lanz, 27, was shot dead by other officers.
Gonzalez died at a local hospital.
Authorities have not determined a motive in the attack, but records reviewed by the wire service show that Lanz was arrested in April in Georgia on charges that included two counts of aggravated battery on a police officer and one count of making a terrorist threat.
He was released on a $30,000 bond in that case in May.
Gonzalez, who served in Iraq with the US Army, joined the Pentagon force in 2018.
“A native of Brooklyn, New York, he was a die-hard Yankees fan,” the Pentagon Force Protection Agency said on Twitter Wednesday.
“He was a graduate of New York City’s Canarsie High School. George Gonzalez joined the @PPFAOfficial as a police officer on July 22, 2018.
“Officer Gonzalez embodied our values of integrity and service to others,” the post continued. “As we mourn the loss of Officer Gonzalez, our commitment to serve and protect is stronger.”
According to the Pentagon force, Gonzalez also worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons before joining the Pentagon police.
In a separate tweet Tuesday, Gen. Mark Milley, head of the Defense Department’s joint chiefs of staff, expressed his condolences over Gonzalez’s death.
“On behalf of the entire Joint Force, I extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and Pentagon Force Protection Agency colleagues of the officer who was killed today in the line of duty protecting the thousands who work at and visit the Pentagon each day,” the post said.
With Post wires
