Who was behind the attack on the Pentagon?
US authorities announced on Wednesday the identification of the attacker who killed a policeman a few meters from the Pentagon, which was briefly placed on high alert.
A statement issued by the FBI said that Austin Williams Lanz, a 27-year-old from Georgia, got off a bus on Tuesday morning and stabbed police officer George Gonzalez with a knife a few meters from the entrance to the fortified Pentagon building.
"This was followed by a fight during which the accused fatally wounded Gonzalez before shooting himself with the policeman's weapon," he added.
The FBI indicated that other police officers later intervened and that Lanz was killed at the scene. The statement did not specify if the rest of the police had also shot Lanz, but witnesses reported hearing bursts of fire.
Gonzalez was taken to hospital but died of his injuries.
The FBI did not say a motive for the assault, but Lanz has a track record of arrests, crimes and burglaries and has previously attacked a policeman, according to local Georgia news reports.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lanz was free on bail and a judge has ordered an evaluation of his mental health.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was not in the building at the time of the incident, ordered the Pentagon flags to be flown at half-mast in honor of the officer. "This officer died in the line of duty, protecting the tens of thousands of people who work at or visit the Pentagon every day," he said in a statement.
Austin and Chief of Staff General Mark Milley were at the White House for a weekly meeting with President Joe Biden.