Susan L. Lorincz, the 58-year-old white woman accused of shooting 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens in central Florida, has been arrested in connection with her death, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday evening.
Officials charged Lorincz with manslaughter with a firearm — a first-degree felony — culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault. If convicted, Lorincz faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Owens, a single Black mother of four, was gunned down June 2 after she supposedly attempted to confront Lorincz, her neighbor, for allegedly throwing a pair of skates at two of her kids, striking her 10-year-old son in the toe.
Her children had been playing in a field near Lorincz’s residence. Lorincz started an argument with the children, a press release from the Sheriff’s Department stated, before launching the item at the kids.
Owens’ 12-year-old son went to speak to the woman. She opened her door and “swung at them with an umbrella.” The children went back home to alert their mother about what happened.
Owens marched over to her neighbor’s residence, knocked on the door and demanded that the woman come outside. That’s when Lorincz fired one shot through the door, hitting Owens in the upper chest region.
Owens’ 10-year-old son was standing next to her when she was shot.
Deputies arrived at the Ocala neighborhood to find Owens in front of Lorincz’s apartment with one gunshot wound. The officers rendered aid to the mother until emergency service personnel were able to transport her to HCA Florida Ocala Hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
Lorincz told officers that she shot Owens in self-defense, claiming that Owens had attempted to break down her door and had attacked her in the past.
A police incident report from Feb. 2022 showed that Lorincz previously called the police alleging that Owens threw a “no trespassing” sign at her. At the time, officers did not charge Owens with a crime, due to conflicting statements and the fact that neither party had any visible injuries.
Earlier this year in April, Lorincz called the police on Owens again, claiming that she had repeatedly opened her mailbox over the course of 10 days. She admitted that she had no mail missing, however.
After a series of interviews that stretched into Monday, including forensic interviews with Owens’ children, detectives found that Lorincz did not act in accordance with Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which could’ve prevented her from being charged with a crime.
Under the law, a person is able to defend themselves from inside their residence with deadly force if “he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.”
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods previously cited the law as the reason why his office could not immediately arrest Lorincz. He’d been criticized for not acting sooner by Owens’ family and civil rights leaders.
“As I go to bed tonight, I will be saying a prayer for Ms. Owens’ children and the rest of her family,” Woods said in a statement released after deputies took Lorincz into custody. “I’d ask all of you to do the same.”
Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Anthony D. Thomas, who are both representing Owens’ family, released a statement following the news of Lorincz’s arrest: “While we are relieved that the woman apparently responsible for the tragic killing of Ajike “AJ” Owens has been arrested, we are no less concerned that accountability has taken this long because archaic laws like Stand Your Ground exist.
“What does it say when a person can shoot and kill an unarmed mother in the presence of her young children, and not be immediately taken into custody, questioned and charged?”
A GoFundMe page started by Owens’ mother Pamela Dias has so far raised $154,000 out of its $500,000 goal. In a note on the website, Owens was described as being known for her infectious personality and a smile that would “light up the room.”
“But most of all, she was known for how much she loved and absolutely lived for her four children.”
