News/Commentary

Florida woman who shot unarmed black neighbor through door to face manslaughter, not murder

June 27, 2023 | | Print Article

A 58-year-old Florida woman named Susan Lorincz fired a warning shot through a locked door at her unarmed black neighbor, a 35-year-old mother named Ajike Owens, killing her earlier this month. But she will not face murder charges over it.

(Video Credit: WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando)

According to authorities, there is insufficient evidence that Lorincz had a “depraved mind” at the time of the shooting and therefore she will be charged with one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years. If the prosecution had instead gone to court on second-degree murder charges and had “insufficient evidence,” all charges could have been dismissed against the shooter.

Lorincz, who is white, reportedly killed her neighbor hours after calling the woman’s kids racial slurs. There had been an ongoing fight between the two women for two years. She purportedly shot and killed Owens in front of her young children.

State Attorney Bill Gladson made the announcement on Monday via a press release.

“As deplorable as the defendant’s actions were in this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove this specific and required element of second-degree murder,” the press release contended. “While some may not agree with that decision, I can assure you that the decision was thoughtful and made without consideration of any factors other than the specific facts of this terrible crime.”

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The “depraved mind” designation “requires evidence of hatred, spite, ill will or evil intent toward the victim at the time of the killing.”

Gladson’s office asserted they lack evidence of this, despite Lorincz admitting to repeatedly harassing Owens’ children with racial slurs in an arrest affidavit that was obtained by CNN earlier in June. Owens’ family’s attorneys have alleged she called the kids the N-word and “slaves.”

Owens’ family has previously called for a murder charge to be filed against Lorincz.

The announcement follows the Marion County sheriff’s office getting blasted over a prolonged delay in Lorincz being arrested. The state was investigating whether she had acted within the bounds of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. Stand Your Ground laws legally permit citizens to defend themselves with deadly force if they fear they’re in imminent danger. In this case, the neighbor was unarmed and Lorincz shot through a locked door, killing her.

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Jezebel reported:

According to lawyers for Owens’ family, the conflict that led to Owens’ death began when her kids were playing in a field near their apartment complex. Lorincz ‘began yelling at [the kids] to get off her land and calling them racial slurs.’ The children fled the field and accidentally left behind an iPad, which Lorincz collected. When Owens’ kids went to Lorincz’s home to retrieve it, Owens’ family lawyers say that Lorincz threw it, hitting one of the children. Owens then came to Lorincz’s home to confront her. Lorincz then shot and killed Owens through the door.

 

After interviews with witnesses were conducted, the Marion County sheriff’s office gave a similar accounting of the events which eventually led to Lorincz’s arrest on June 6. She claimed in the affidavit she did not mean to shoot Owens and that she only fired a warning shot because she feared for her life.

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Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods claimed Lorincz did not have grounds to shoot Owens, according to ClickOrlando.

“If she gets any attorneys, I don’t care what that attorney says, I don’t care what that attorney presents to the court, for me and my detectives, this was an unjustified shooting, clear,” he declared after probing the case for several days.

“The truth is we’ve gotten to a point where black folks are almost living in a day where we are afraid to go outside,” Marion County NAACP president Bishop J. David Stockton III stated, according to CBS News. “Our children and adults deserve to live in a world where they do not live in fear of their neighbors.”

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