A white woman with a history of harassing children and using racial slurs was convicted of manslaughter on Friday in the fatal shooting of a Black neighbor last year in Ocala, Florida.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 60, killed Ajike “AJ” Owens with a single shot from a .380-caliber handgun as Owens knocked on her apartment door on June 2, 2023.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said at the time Lorincz and Owens were in a long-standing “feud” over Owens’ children playing.
The all-white, six-person jury found Lorincz guilty of manslaughter despite the 60-year-old asserting that her actions were in self-defense. Lorincz, who showed no emotion, faces up to 30 years in prison.
Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, cried during the trial. A family member yelled out, “Oh, God. Thank you, Jesus,” after Lorincz was convicted and taken into custody.
Dias, at a post-trial press conference with attorney Anthony D. Thomas, said that it “has been a long journey to get to this day, to get to this verdict,” adding that she has found “some peace” with the verdict and feels “some justice” has been achieved.
“My heart is a little lighter, and we’re now on the path of true healing,” Dias said.
Thomas said Owens’ “children are coping the best that they can.”
“Certainly the loss of their mom lingers every single day,” Thomas added. “But just like I’ve said before, and the State’s Attorney’s Office agrees, we still need to sentence Susan Lorincz. The next step is the sentencing part.”
Owens, a mother of four, had gone over to confront Lorincz after the woman allegedly threw skates and an umbrella at Owens’ children as they played outside. Owens was shot through the door as the women argued and with Owens’ children present.
During trial, Lorincz’s interview with police in which she told authorities she was in fear for her life was played for the jury. She said she was scared and wanted Owens to “go away.”
“I was never intending to kill. I was shaking. I was just so distraught at that point in time,” Lorincz said in the interview. “I felt like I was in mortal danger.”
Owens was not armed and the door to Lorincz’s apartment was locked, according to prosecutors.
Lorincz denied throwing things at Owens’ children and described in the interview feeling harassed by the children during her time living in the home. Her defense attorney, Morris Carranza, told jurors in his opening statement that Lorincz felt “in her core that she had no choice” but to shoot.
Florida law gives some protection for the use of deadly force if a person “reasonably believes” such force is necessary because their life is in imminent danger. These are often called “stand your ground” laws and have led to some controversial cases.
“Not only was Susan Lorincz on trial today, but so was ‘stand your ground’ and how that’s defined,” Thomas said at the post-trial presser. “I think we made one step closer with case law and defining what ‘stand your ground’ actually means.”
Thomas continued: “No, you cannot claim to be in fear of your life. No, you can’t bait the police by telling them you’re in fear for your life over the phone to make sure they hurry up and get there.”
Dias, Owens’ mother, told reporters Lorincz had “no regard” for human life.
“She set out to cause harm. She set out to kill. That’s exactly what she did,” Dias said. “She has no regard for any form of human life.”
Lorincz wasn’t initially arrested following the shooting, which prompted outcry. The sheriff’s office at the time said officials were investigating whether the “stand your ground” law applied.
She was arrested June 6, 2023. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said investigators gathered information from witness interviews that found her actions were not justifiable under the law, calling it “simply a killing.”
The prosecutor’s office has said it considered a second-degree murder charge, but did not feel there was enough evidence to prove intent.
Multiple neighbors told NBC News in interviews last year that they recalled times Lorincz had recorded their children, taunted them with slurs, called the police and waved guns at them.
Phyllis Wills lived in the neighborhood for 15 years and described Lorincz as having a problem with children being children. She noted that many of the neighbors had issues with Lorincz.
Lorincz yelled curse words at the children, as well as used the N-slur and a pejorative for people with intellectual disabilities, Wills said.
“She’s gotten into her truck and blasted the radio as loud as she could to agitate the kids,” Wills said. “She’s gotten into her truck and laid on the horn for long periods of time to agitate them, as well.”
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