White woman who fatally shot Black neighbor through door faces manslaughter sentence in Florida
A white woman from Florida who fatally shot a black neighbor through her front door during an ongoing dispute over a neighbor’s noisy children, will be sentenced Monday for her manslaughter conviction.
Susan Lorincz, 60, was convicted in August of killing 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens by firing a single shot from her .380-caliber handgun in June 2023. Lorincz faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for a firearm was used.
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 investigators in a videotaped interview she feared for her life. She also said she was harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighborhood.
“I thought I was in immediate danger,” she said.
But jurors disagreed with her self-defense claim.
Owens’ family pushed for the maximum prison sentence after Lorincz was convicted by an all-white jury.
“While we feel 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,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said in an emailed statement prior to Monday’s sentencing. “Ajike’s legacy will live on through her children, and we will continue to fight for justice.”
Lorincz’s attorney, Assistant District Attorney Amanda Sizemore, sought a more lenient sentence, an unspecified prison term below the 11.5-year sentence 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 the black community in Ocala, while prosecutors took weeks to do so Charge Lorincz with manslaughtera lower count than second-degree murder, which carries a possible life sentence. Marion County, which includes Ocala, has a black population of about 12%, according to census figures.