OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida lady accused of fatally taking pictures her neighbor final week within the violent fruits of what the sheriff described as a 2½-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office mentioned.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who’s White, was arrested on prices of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault within the dying of Ajike Owens, a Black mom of 4, Sheriff Billy Woods mentioned in an announcement.
Authorities got here beneath stress Tuesday to arrest and cost the White lady who fired via her entrance her door and killed a Black neighbor in a case that has put Florida’s divisive stand your floor legislation again into the highlight.
Woods mentioned that this was not a stand your floor case however “simply a killing.”
When interviewed, Lorincz claimed that she acted in self-defense and that Owens had been attempting to interrupt down her door previous to her discharging her firearm. Lorincz additionally claimed that Owens had come after her up to now and had beforehand attacked her. Through their investigation – together with acquiring the statements of eyewitnesses – detectives have been capable of set up that Lorincz’s actions weren’t justifiable beneath Florida legislation, an announcement from the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
About three dozen principally Black protesters gathered exterior the Marion County Judicial Center to demand that the shooter be arrested within the nation’s newest flashpoint over race and gun violence. The chief prosecutor, State Attorney William Gladson, met with the protesters and urged persistence whereas the investigation continues.
“If we are going to make a case we need as much time and as much evidence as possible,” Gladson mentioned. “I don’t want to compromise any criminal investigation and I’m not going to do that.”
Owens, 35, was killed within the Friday night time taking pictures, Woods mentioned. The ladies lived within the rolling hills south of Ocala, a north Florida metropolis that’s the coronary heart of the state’s horse nation.
Woods had mentioned Monday that detectives have been working with the State Attorney’s Office and should examine attainable self-defense claims earlier than they’ll transfer ahead with any attainable felony prices. The sheriff identified that due to the stand your floor legislation he can’t legally make an arrest except he can show the shooter didn’t act in self-defense.
On Tuesday, a stuffed teddy bear and bouquets marked the realm close to the place Owens was shot. Nearby, kids have been driving bikes and scooters, and enjoying basketball. Protesters chanted “No justice, no peace” and “A.J. A.J. A.J.” utilizing Owens’ nickname. They carried indicators saying: “Say her name Ajike Owens” and “It’s about us.”
Outside, the Rev. Bernard Tuggerson mentioned the Black neighborhood in Ocala has suffered injustices for years. “Marion County is suffering and needs to be healed completely,” he mentioned. “If we don’t turn from our wicked ways of the world, it’s going to be an ongoing problem. We want answers.”
The sheriff mentioned Owens was shot moments after going to Lorincz’s condominium, who had yelled at Owens’ kids as they performed in a close-by lot. He additionally mentioned Lorincz had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of many kids.
Deputies responding to a trespassing name on the condominium Friday night time discovered Owens affected by gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital.
Before the confrontation, Lorincz had been yelling racial slurs on the kids, based on an announcement from civil rights legal professional Ben Crump, who’s representing Owens’ household. He additionally represented Trayvon Martin’s household in 2012, when the Black teenager was killed in a case that drew worldwide consideration to the state’s stand your floor legislation.
The sheriff’s workplace hasn’t confirmed there have been slurs uttered or mentioned whether or not race was an element within the taking pictures.
Lauren Smith, 40, lives throughout the road from the place the taking pictures occurred. She was on her porch that day and noticed considered one of Owens’ younger sons pacing, and yelling, “They shot my mama, they shot my mama.”
She ran towards the home and began chest compressions till a rescue crew arrived. She mentioned there wasn’t an altercation and that Owens didn’t have a weapon.
“She was angry all the time that the children were playing out there,” Smith mentioned. “She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty.” Smith, who’s White, described the neighborhood as family-friendly.
The sheriff mentioned that since January 2021, deputies responded to not less than a half-dozen calls in reference to what police described as feuding between Owens and Lorincz.
“There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” the sheriff mentioned Lorincz advised investigators. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
“I’m absolutely heartbroken,” Angela Ferrell-Zabala, govt director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, advised The Associated Press. She described the deadly taking pictures as “so senseless.”
“We’ve seen this again and again across this country,” she mentioned, including that “it’s really because of lax gun laws and a culture of shoot first.”
Ferrell-Zabala mentioned stand your floor circumstances, which she refers to as “shoot first laws,” are deemed justifiable 5 occasions extra incessantly when a white shooter kills a Black sufferer.
In 2017, Florida lawmakers up to date the state’s self-defense statute to shift the burden of proof from an individual claiming self-defense to prosecutors. That means authorities need to rule out self-defense earlier than bringing prices. Before the change in legislation, prosecutors might cost somebody with a taking pictures, after which protection attorneys must current an affirmative protection for why their consumer shouldn’t be convicted.
In truth, stand your floor and “castle doctrine” circumstances — which permit residents to defend themselves both by legislation or court docket precedent when threatened — have sparked outrage amid a spate of shootings throughout the nation.
In April, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a White man, shot and injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City after mistakenly displaying up on the improper home to select up his youthful siblings. Lester faces prices of first-degree assault and armed felony motion; at trial, he could argue that he thought somebody was attempting to interrupt into his home, as he advised police.
Missouri and Florida are amongst about 30 states which have stand your floor legal guidelines.
The most well-known examples of the stand your floor argument got here up within the trial of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman, who had a white father and Hispanic mom, advised police that Martin attacked him, forcing him to make use of his gun in self-defense. He was allowed to go free, however was arrested about six weeks later after Martin’s mother and father questioned his model of occasions and then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed a particular prosecutor.
Before trial, Zimmerman’s attorneys selected to not pursue a stand your floor declare, which might have resulted within the dismissal of homicide modifications in addition to immunity from prosecution. But through the trial, the legislation was primarily used as a part of his self-defense argument. Jurors discovered him not responsible.
At a vigil Monday, Owens’ mom, Pamela Dias, mentioned that she was in search of justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.
“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her,” Dias mentioned. “She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone.”
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Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.
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