A 26-year-old man in Georgia goes on trial this week for allegedly murdering a married couple in their new house, entering into the home and gunning down the two parents while leaving their 2-year-old boy alone and covered in blood for almost 12 hours before cops arrived.
Matthew Scott Lanz is facing a slew of felony charges, including numerous counts of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and cruelty to children in the 2021 deaths of Justin and Amber Hicks, both of whom were murdered in front of their son, Jacob Hicks. Justin Hicks had served with the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services Department for six years.
Georgia, unlike most states, does not use a degree system to define murder. Instead, the law distinguishes between malice murder, which is the intentional killing of someone, and felony murder, which is the death of someone while committing a felony.
During opening arguments on Monday, prosecutors stated that the couple was killed little over two months after moving into “their dream home” on Cameron Glen Drive in Atlanta.
On the night of November 19, 2021, prosecutors said, the mother and father were “cuddled up on the couch” and watching TV, unaware that “there was someone lurking on the outside of their home.” That person, according to prosecutors, was Matthew Lanz.
“At around 10 p.m. that night, this family’s worst nightmare came true,” the prosecutor said. “Around 10 p.m., the back glass was broken through. The Hicks were ignorant. They were defenseless. “They were executed.
The prosecutor further said that after the shooting, Jacob “tried to cuddle with his parents” and “tried to play with his parents” as they lay lifeless on the couch. Several of the toddler’s toys were allegedly discovered on and near Justin Hicks’ body.
As Law&Crime previously documented, Lanz resided just around the corner from the Hicks family, whose new home shared a backyard fence with Lanz’s parents on Delphinium Boulevard.
Phillip Brent, the former owner of the Hicks property, claimed Lanz and his older brother waged a “long harassment campaign” against him and his fiance while they resided there.
The day after Justin Hicks and Amber Hicks were killed, officers from the Sandy Springs Police Department responded to a call regarding a probable break-in at a residence located on Cameron Glen Drive in Atlanta. Fox affiliate WAGA-TV reported. A cop cruiser was apparently already in the area after someone called 911 minutes earlier to report a suspicious person in the vicinity.
“Once our officers arrived, they confronted the perpetrator who was still inside the house,” Sgt. Sal Ortega told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “At some point, a scuffle broke out, and the suspect attacked one of our policemen, stabbing him several times throughout his body. At least one other responding officer fired at the suspect in an effort to stop the stabbing.”
The cop received multiple stab wounds to the neck and back. Lanz was also allegedly shot twice by police. Both the wounded officer and the suspect were sent to Grady Hospital for treatment. Both Lanz and the injured cop lived.
In the summer of 2021, the defendant’s older brother, Austin Lanz, gained national headlines when he attacked Pentagon Police Officer George Gonzalez at a bus terminal outside the federal complex. The incident allegedly occurred “immediately” and “without provocation” as soon as Austin Lanz stepped off a bus. Austin Lanz then used Gonzalez’s service weapon to commit suicide.
Prior to fatally stabbing Gonzalez, Austin Lanz was charged with breaking into the house where Justin and Amber Hicks were killed, despite the fact that Brent owned it at the time.
