Man who fatally stabbed Pentagon officer had troubled past

[UpInArms]

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 a harassment campaign involving sexually explicit photos and messages, according to interviews and records obtained by The Associated Press.

… snip …

By the time of the break-in, Brent said, he was so unnerved that he was sleeping at his sister's house. On April 24, around 4 a.m., he was alerted that the alarm company had reported a break-in at his home. He pulled up the surveillance system video camera on his phone, “and I was like, oh, it's Austin.”

He said Lanz broke in through the back door with a sledgehammer, opened all the blinds and rummaged through his bed. Though it is not mentioned in the police report, Lanz was also carrying a handgun, Brent said.

“It was terrifying,” he said.

Brent and his former fiancee, Eliza Wells, said they were frustrated with the criminal justice system, which they say failed to initially treat the harassment claims with appropriate seriousness and then permitted him to be out on bond.

Brent said he recently learned from a prosecutor that Lanz's lawyer was seeking a bond modification that would permit Lanz to travel to the Washington, D.C., area to work with his father, who did not return messages seeking comment.

“It just causes me to wonder what could have been done differently to help Austin mentally and give him the actual tools and resources if he needed, instead of just letting him out on bail and allowing him to travel out of state, and that sort of stuff,” Wells said.

https://news.yahoo.com/officer-dead-suspect-killed-violence-134244552.html

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Sorry to diagnose from a distance, but from what's in the OP, Lanz sounds maybe bipolar

It's a shame in any case ...

[maxsolomon]

2. I tried to make this point last week on DU when Sen Boxer had her phone snatched.

Many criminals have very sad stories that explain or contextualize their crimes. That is not EXCUSING the crime.

In this case, this was a very serious crime (murder), and it was driven by his mental illness (sounds like Schizophrenia). He deliberately committed it to put himself into a situation where he would be killed, one way or the other.

There are not enough resources for the treatment of the dangerously mentally ill. It is not easy to involuntarily commit them. Too many people are dying at their hands, including themselves.

[UpInArms]

3. This goes back a long ways

U01: Ronald Reagan and the Federal Deinstitutionalization of Mentally Ill Patients

Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, is well known for his fiscal policies that stimulated economic growth, cut inflation and pulled America out of a recession (Cannon, 2017). What Reagan is not readily known for is the long term effect of a law he repealed that essentially deinstitutionalized mentally ill patients at the federal level (Roberts, 2013). While some of his fiscal policies had a positive effect on the U.S. economy during the 1980s, his decision to deinstitutionalize mentally ill patients had a much more deleterious effect on these patients, their communities, and the agencies that were left to contend with these individuals’ mental health issues (Honberg, 2015).

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) is the statute that repealed President Carter’s Mental Health Systems Act which was supposed to continue federal funding for mental health programs. Reagan gave the appearance of making a consequentialist ethical decision because he presented his repeal of OBRA as an action that would best serve American society and do more good than harm as a result. The OBRA gave mental patients a choice to seek treatment outside of a mental institution, an option to seek treatment at clinics at the state level, and the freedom to administer their own medication (PSY533, 2017) (Pan, 2013). However, Reagan was hasty in taking unsound advice to repeal OBRA because his real motive was to cut the federal budget (Roberts, 2013). He was a leader who “never exhibited any interest in the need for research or better treatment for serious mental illness” (Torrey, 2017).

To be an ethical leader, one must attempt to gather as much knowledge as possible when making decisions, especially if one has the power to affect so many lives (Toffler, 2009). The mentally ill are amongst the most vulnerable populations in society because most are unable to make sound decisions regarding their own care due to their mental state. The consequences of Reagan’s social policy can be measured by the fact that today one-third of the homeless population are suffering from severe mental illness which puts a burden on police departments, hospitals and the penal system which lack the training and resources to deal with psychiatric emergencies (Honberg, 2015). Reagan’s unethical choice to end federal funding for mental health programs was driven by the desire to cut the budget. As a result, he did much more harm than good (PSY533, 2017).