UPDATE: Man accused of stabbing Sandy Springs officer arrested in Cobb couple’s slaying
The GBI has identified a man who was shot by police after they say he attacked an officer with a knife Friday morning in the living room of a Sandy Springs home.
Matthew Lanz, 22, of Acworth, is in police custody after being released from the hospital and is facing multiple charges, GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said in a news release. The GBI has opened an independent investigation into the shooting at the request of Sandy Springs police.
Lanz and the officer who was stabbed were rushed to a hospital, and both were released later on Friday, authorities said. A second officer took a bullet to the hand and was treated and released, Sandy Springs spokesman Sgt. Sal Ortega said.
The shooting marked the end of a string of early morning break-ins in a neighborhood off Heards Ferry Road. Ortega said multiple homeowners reported burglaries before residents of a home on Cameron Glen Drive discovered an intruder inside. They called 911 around 8:40 a.m.
JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
“Once our officers arrived, they confronted the perpetrator still inside the house,” Ortega told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the scene. “At some point, a struggle took place where the suspect attacked one of our officers, stabbing him multiple times throughout his body. At least one other responding officer shot at the suspect in an attempt to stop the stabbing.”
Ammons later confirmed that Lanz had been shot twice.
The officer’s injuries included stab wounds to his head and chest, Ortega said. He believed the other wounded officer was hit by a ricocheting bullet.
Lanz is believed to be responsible for the earlier break-ins. He was seen on a neighbor’s doorbell camera walking down the street wearing camouflage shortly before the incident with police, Channel 2 Action News reported. Investigators do not believe Lanz had any connection to the neighborhood and he was unknown to the homeowners.
“It happened so quickly once the first officer arrived,” Ortega said of the stabbing. “The suspect just ran at him with the sharp object. I’m not sure if it was a knife that he brought with him or if it was a knife that he got from the home.”
JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Lanz will be charged with 35 individual counts, Ortega said. Those charges include 10 counts of attempted murder on a police officer, 10 counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, 10 counts of felony obstruction, two counts of first-degree burglary and one count each of first-degree home invasion, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
This is the 87th officer-involved shooting the GBI has investigated this year.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
