The criminal complaint sworn out against 27-year-old James Eugene Lantz of Commodore charges him with a single offense…criminal homicide. Lantz is accused of shooting to death 23-year-old Derrick Davis in front of Davis’ home on Lovejoy Road in Green Township.
The criminal complaint says Davis’ girlfriend went to Lantz’s nearby home and told him she’d been arguing with Davis, and the two of them went to confront Davis. After the two men argued and then fought, police say Lantz pulled a sawed-off shotgun from a backpack he was carrying and shot Davis in the chest. He later told them he meant to shoot into the air or at the victim’s feet, but panicked when Davis came toward him.
The complaint also says 32-year-old Beverly Stewart, the intoxicated woman who showed up at the crime scene later on Saturday woman is Lantz’s ex-girlfriend. She and several other people received text messages from Lantz after the shooting, in which he wrote that he’d “killed someone”.
Lantz is being held at the Indiana County Jail, with a preliminary hearing set for next Thursday (June 29) before District Judge Guy Haberl.
