MARIETTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The bench trial for Matthew Scott Lanz began Monday morning in Cobb County Superior Court.

Lanz is accused of shooting his neighbors, Justin and Amber Hicks, to death in their Acworth home in 2021.

Justin was a Cherokee County firefighter for more than six years. Amber was an audiology assistant. Lanz lived on property that shared a fence with the couple, according to police.

The couple’s 2-year-old son, Jacob, was asleep upstairs when the shooting happened. He was left unharmed but was alone in the house for hours.

On Monday, a Cobb County police officer testified that when police found Jacob, he was wearing pajamas that were covered in his parents’ blood.

Investigators believe he didn’t understand his parents were dead and was trying to play with

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