Susan Lorincz snivels as she’s sentenced for shooting dead black unarmed neighbor Ajike Owens
A white woman who fatally shot her black neighbor through her front door has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted of manslaughter in August after a weeklong trial — just over a year after she killed 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens as she stood next to her 12-year-old son on the sidewalk. Ocala, FL.
Lorincz faced a maximum prison sentence of thirty years for using a firearm.
Lorincz hung her head Monday as Owens’ mother Pamela Dias gave a heartbreaking victim impact statement in court.
She was also seen crying and wiping her nose during the hearing.
“Ajike was a beloved mother, daughter and friend whose life was tragically cut short,” Dias told the court. “It is virtually impossible to list all the ways Susan has ruined our lives…
“My little girl, my only daughter, is gone forever. Susan Lorincz took her own life at the age of 35. I stand before you and mourn not only the loss of my daughter, but the loss of our hopes, dreams, and the future we often talked about.
“They all died the night Susan Lorincz killed my daughter.”
Dias spoke at length about Owen’s four children struggling to cope with her death.
Susan Lorincz, 60, hung her head Monday as Owens’ mother Pamela Dias gave a heartbreaking victim impact statement in court
Prosecutors said Owens came to Lorincz’s home after her children complained that she had thrown roller skates and an umbrella at them, which Lorincz denied.
“She destroyed our family. She killed family,” Dias added.
The shooting was the culmination of a long feud between the two neighbors over Owens’ children playing in a lawn at both their homes in Ocala, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors said Owens came to Lorincz’s home after her children complained that she had thrown roller skates and an umbrella at them, which Lorincz denied.
A witness statement revealed that Owens, a mother of four young children, banged on Lorincz’s door and screamed, causing Lorincz to claim self-defense by shooting her neighbor.
Lorincz told detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life. She also said she was harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighborhood.
But jurors disagreed with her self-defense claim.
Before sentencing, psychologist Yenys Castillo, who spoke extensively with Lorincz, told the court that she was sexually abused by her father from the age of four to 20.
Lorincz’s pastor, Shannon Harris, and a couple from her church also spoke in defense of her character.
Owens’ family pushed for the maximum prison sentence after Lorincz was convicted by an all-white jury.
Lorincz told detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life
The women lived across the street from each other, and Lorincz had called 911 at 8:54 p.m. on June 2 to complain that the children were yelling trespassing outside her door.
A repaired bullet hole, upper right, can be seen in the front door of Lorincz’s home after she fired her Remington 380 pistol, fatally striking Owens who knocked
“Despite the pain of losing Ajike, we are hopeful that justice will prevail and that the court will give Susan Lorincz the maximum penalty for her actions,” said Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias.
“Ajike’s legacy will live on through her children, and we will continue to fight for justice.”
Lorincz’s public defender Amanda Sizemore sought a more lenient sentence, an unspecified term below the 11.5 years in prison that is the lowest for her crime under state guidelines.
Sizemore said in court documents that there are several reasons to justify a downward departure, including mental disorder and claims that Owens was the aggressor and was under “extreme duress” during the confrontation.
There were protests in Ocala’s black community as prosecutors took weeks to charge Lorincz with manslaughter, a lesser count than second-degree murder, which carries a possible life sentence.