Chief Terrence Green is providing a final update to the early morning shooting death investigation in the Mallard Lakes neighborhood on August 16, 2022, as the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office has reviewed this case and has ruled it as a justifiable homicide.
It was found that the male victim acted in self-defense in the shooting death of Matthew Stanfield, age 33 of Colorado, during a home invasion and violent assault which ended in gunfire between the two men.
To clarify the relationships of those involved in this incident, Matthew Stanfield was the brother of the female victim and brother-in-law to the male victim. The female victim and male victim are married and live together at this home.
This incident began minutes after the male victim had left for work when he was notified with an alert on his mobile phone that someone was on his property. Viewing the security camera on his mobile phone, he saw that Matthew Stanfield was outside of his home and immediately called dispatch to report an unwanted guest. The male victim was concerned due to Matthew Stanfield making previous threats of violence to the victims and their children.
When the male victim arrived home, he heard glass breaking from the door on the side of the house and advised the dispatcher of the home invasion in progress. The male victim entered his home and confronted Matthew Stanfield as he was trying to break into the bathroom where the female victim was hiding by striking the door repeatedly with a metal bat. Matthew Stanfield and the male victim fought for several minutes and then Matthew Stanfield went outside reaching into a large backpack that he had brought with him. The male victim, believing that Matthew Stanfield was arming himself with a firearm, went to get his handgun. Matthew Stanfield took a rifle from the backpack and began shooting at the male victim as he ran into the bedroom where he was able to get his handgun. The two exchanged gunfire resulting in Matthew Stanfield’s death and the male victim being shot in the arm and shoulder with non-life-threatening injuries.
When officers arrived at the home on the 100 block of Widgeon Drive, they were met in the driveway by the male victim and the female victim. The officers entered the home finding Matthew Stanfield deceased in the living room after he had been shot several times in the upper body. The officers found three children in their bedrooms and brought them safely out of the house to their parents.
When searching the home, detectives found the rifle that Matthew Stanfield brought with him along with extra magazines with ammo, a ballistic vest, flex cuffs, and a metal chain to aid him in what is believed to have been a planned attack.
With this review by the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, the Lexington Police Department will close the investigation into this incident.
