Matthew Lanz is accused of killing his new neighbors, Justin Hicks and his wife Amber in their Acworth, Georgia home. On November 18, 2021, Cherokee County firefighter 31-year-old Timothy Justin Hicks and his wife Amber Hicks, both 31, were found shot to death at their home. Their 2-year-old son was in the house but was not hurt. A couple of days after the murders, detectives identified Lanz as the suspect. At that time he was in the Fulton County Jail accused of a string of burglaries, including one in which he was accused of stabbing a Sandy Springs police officer. Officers had discovered Lanz inside a residence when they arrived and a confrontation ensued. Officers unsuccessfully attempted to subdue Lanz by using a Taser on him and that is when Lanz repeatedly stabbed one of the responding officers. During that struggle, another officer shot Lanz, wounding him. Lanz had no connection to the neighborhood where the burglary took place and did not know the homeowners. Lanz is charged with malice murder of Justin and Amber Hicks and 12 other counts, including child cruelty. The indictment accuses him of causing their 2-year-old son physical and mental pain because the child was alone for 12 hours, 'unable to feed himself, change his diaper, or get the attention of his parents'. The charges also include home invasion, aggravated assault, weapons possession, and attempted murder in connection with the two incidents. The brother of Matthew Lanz, Austin William Lanz, 27, was identified as the man who on August 3, 2021 fatally stabbed George Gonzalez, a Pentagon police officer, and a during a struggle that ensued shot himself dead with the officer's gun. Austin Lanz was arrested in April 2021 in connection with a break-in at a home that shares a back fence with his. The homeowner at the time of the break-in, Phillip Brent, said it was a culmination of a long harassment campaign against Brent and his then-fiancee. The home was sold a few months later to the Hicks family.