COUNTYWIDE : Suspected Prowler Linked to Shooting

A man suspected of prowling in a Tustin apartment complex on Tuesday has been linked to the fatal shooting of a man in his Orange garage during the weekend.

Eric Joseph Lanz, 32, of Costa Mesa was booked on suspicion of murder. But Orange police, citing an ongoing investigation, declined to say what linked Lanz to the slaying of Bruce Gordon Hanson Jr.

Hanson, 33, was shot once in the head shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday. Police said Hanson’s girlfriend, who was inside the house they shared at 350 S. Grand St., and neighbors heard “a loud bang” coming from the attached garage. The unidentified girlfriend found Hanson on the garage floor, police said.

Orange Police Sgt. Jim Hudson would not say if police are looking for more suspects. He said police do not know if the suspect knew Hanson, and they have not recovered the gun used in the shooting.

Lanz, who is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, was arrested about 3:15 a.m. Tuesday, Hudson said.

Tustin police went to the apartment complex after receiving a call from an apartment resident about a prowler.

Led by a police dog, officers found Lanz hiding in the laundry room of the Villa Apartments at 16561 Alliance Ave., said Tustin Sgt. Christine George. About six Tustin police officers were involved in the early morning capture.

“There was a lot of commotion in the washer-dryer area,” said apartment manager Art Koustik, who was awakened by shouts of police officers and the barking police dog.

Koustik said he stood in his doorway overlooking a central court of the apartment complex where police “kept asking (Lanz) where his buddy was.”

Lanz, who was on parole earlier this year, has a criminal record that spans several years.

In February, 1979, he went to state prison after pleading guilty to committing a burglary in Orange, according to criminal court records at Orange County Superior Court and the state Department of Corrections. He was released in November, 1979, said Annette Chelini of the state Department of Corrections.

Beginning in September, 1986, Lanz served almost three years in California state prison for illegally manufacturing and selling firearms, according to Chelini. Lanz was on parole until April 21, said Ruth Willard, a parole field administrator in Diamond Bar.