Georgia man shot while burglarizing home now accused of murdering his neighbors, police say

A Georgia man who allegedly attacked and stabbed a police officer while burglarizing a home is now accused of killing a couple who recently moved into his neighborhood, officials said.

On Nov. 19, police responded to a break-in at a Sandy Springs residence. According to authorities, Matthew Lanz, 22, stabbed an officer in the back and neck and a second cop shot him, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The injured officer is expected to recover from his injuries. Lanz was treated at an area hospital and booked into the Fulton County jail on a slew of charges, including burglary, home invasion, aggravated assault on a police officer, and attempted murder of a police officer.

Investigators have now identified Lanz as the main suspect in the double murder of a couple whose home in Acworth, Cobb County, shared a backyard fence with his property, police said.

As FrontPageDetectives previously reported, on Nov. 18 around 9:30 a.m., police found Timothy Justin Hicks and his wife, Amber Hicks,both 31, fatally shot to death in the house they had just moved into over the summer.

Law enforcement believes Lanz killed the couple the prior evening but left the couple’s 2-year-old son unharmed.

“Our Cobb County Crimes Against Persons Unit has been working nonstop since this incident happened, and that’s why they were able to get a suspect as quickly as they did,” Cobb police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Delk told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “There’s still some work to do to cross the T’s and a process, but for the most part, this case has been solved.”

The murder suspect is the brother of Austin William Lanz, the man who stabbed a police officer to death near the Pentagon last August and then used the slain officer’s handgun to kill himself near the U.S. military’s headquarters.

Before his suicide, Austin Lanz was accused of stalking and harassing neighbors.