A white woman in Florida shot and killed a black neighbor through her front door while arguing about the neighbor’s noisy kids. She will be sentenced on Monday for manslaughter.
Susie Lorincz, 60, was found guilty in August of killing Ajike “A.J.” Owens, 35, with a single shot from her gun.380-caliber pistol in June 2023. Given that a gun was used, Lorincz could get up to 30 years in state jail.
Owens’ kids had been playing in an open area at both of the neighbors’ homes in Ocala, which is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando, for a long time, which led to the shooting.
Owens was called by the police to Lorincz’s house after her kids said she hit them with roller skates and an umbrella, which Lorincz denied. The trial showed that Owens, a mother of four young children, was yelling and banging on Lorincz’s door, which is why Lorincz shot her neighbor in self-defense.
In a videotaped conversation with police, Lorincz said she was afraid for her life. She also said that she had been spied on for most of the three years she lived in the area.
“I thought I was going to die soon,” she said.
They did not agree with her self-defense claim, though.
After Lorincz was found guilty by a white-only jury, Owens’ family pushed for the harshest prison term possible.
“Even though it hurts to lose Ajike, we are hopeful that justice will prevail and that the court will give Susan Lorincz the maximum sentence for her actions,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, wrote in an email before her sentencing on Monday. “Ajike’s children will carry on her work, and we will keep fighting for justice.”
Assistant Public Defender Amanda Sizemore, Lorincz’s lawyer, asked for a lighter sentence, one that was less than the 11.5 years in jail that the state’s guidelines say is the lowest sentence for her crime. Sizemore wrote in court papers that a downward departure is acceptable for several reasons, such as a mental disorder, and claims that Owens was the aggressor and under “extreme duress” during the fight.
In Ocala’s Black community, there were protests when it took weeks for prosecutors to charge Lorincz with manslaughter, a lesser crime than second-degree murder, which could lead to life in jail. According to the census, about 1 in 12 people in Marion County, which includes Ocala, are black.
