SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A Sandy Springs police officer was attacked by Matthew Lanz and stabbed several times Friday morning before another officer shot him, police said.
Police said the incident happened at a home on Cameron Glen Road.
Police said that several neighbors had called police about a suspicious man who was possibly burglarizing homes. Video from a neighbor’s doorbell camera showed Lanz, who was wearing camouflage, walking in the middle of the street and then going into a garage.
Police found him inside a home and there Lanz began to attack an officer, police said. A second officer shot the man to stop the attack.
Both Lanz and the officer were treated at the hospital and are stable. The second police officer was also treated for a minor injury to the hand and released.
Police said the officer was stabbed in the chest and head but the attack did not hit any of his vital organs. His identity has not been released.
Lanz now faces numerous charges.
- 1 count of burglary in the 1st degree for the Cameron Ridge Drive incident
- 1 count of burglary in the 1st degree for the Cameron Glen Drive incident
- 1 count of home invasion in the 1st degree
- 10 counts of felony obstruction
- 10 counts of aggravated assault on a police officer
- 10 counts of attempted murder on a police officer
- 1 count of possession of a knife during the commission of a felony
- 1 count of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit
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Neighborhood president Adam Blatt told Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach that a suspicious man was wandering in the neighborhood and into people’s garages.
Blatt said he then went through the woods and ended up back at a home two streets over, where he went inside and confronted the woman.
The homeowner told Blatt that her adult son came downstairs to try to talk the man out of their home, but he was suffering from mental health problems and was confused.
“She came down and he was in the kitchen and they spoke and he did not seem to be 100%,” Blatt said. “I believe they tried to talk to him, but that did not get anywhere and they immediately called the police.”
They called police and got out of the house. The homeowner said that when he was in the house, he didn’t appear to be armed.
“It didn’t sound like he was actually armed, so somehow he acquired a weapon,” police said.
Police said that when they got to the home, Lanz was still in the living room, which is where he attacked.
The GBI is on the scene and assisting in the investigation. Investigators have obtained a warrant to search the home and begin processing it. Police are working to learn where the knife came from.
Officer and suspect taken to hospital after shooting in Sandy Springs. according to neighbor suspicious man seen waking, entering a garage, then running a couple streets over as police were called…and went into another home where homeowner confronted him in kitchen, they got out pic.twitter.com/8w98dTu8Fn
— Steve Gehlbach (@SteveGWSB) November 19, 2021
