OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida lady accused of fatally capturing her neighbor final week within the violent end result of what the sheriff described as a 2½-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who's white, was arrested on expenses of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault within the loss of life of Ajike Owens, who was Black, Sheriff Billy Woods mentioned in an announcement.
Authorities got here beneath stress Tuesday to arrest and cost the white lady who fired by way of her entrance her door and killed a Black neighbor in a case that has put Florida’s divisive stand your floor regulation again into the highlight.
Woods mentioned that this case was not a stand your floor case however “merely 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. By their investigation – together with acquiring the statements of eyewitnesses – detectives had been in a position to set up that Lorincz’s actions weren't justifiable beneath Florida regulation, an announcement from the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.
About three dozen largely Black protesters gathered outdoors the Marion County Judicial Heart to demand that the shooter be arrested within the nation’s newest flashpoint over race and gun violence. The chief prosecutor, State Legal professional William Gladson, met with the protesters and urged persistence whereas the investigation continues.
“If we're going to make a case we want as a lot time and as a lot proof as potential,” Gladson mentioned. “I don’t need to compromise any legal investigation and I’m not going to try this.”
Owens, a 35-year-old mom of 4, was killed within the Friday night time capturing, 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 had been working with the State Legal professional’s Workplace and should examine potential self-defense claims earlier than they will transfer ahead with any potential legal expenses. The sheriff identified that due to the stand your floor regulation 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. Close by, youngsters had 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 identify Ajike Owens” and “It’s about us.”
Outdoors, the Rev. Bernard Tuggerson mentioned the Black group in Ocala has suffered injustices for years. “Marion County is struggling and must be healed fully,” he mentioned. “If we don’t flip from our depraved methods of the world, it’s going to be an ongoing downside. We would like solutions.”
The sheriff mentioned Owens was shot moments after going to the residence of her neighbor, who had yelled at Owens’ youngsters as they performed in a close-by lot. He additionally mentioned the neighbor, who has not been recognized by police, had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of many youngsters.
Deputies responding to a trespassing name on the residence Friday night time discovered Owens affected by gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital.
Earlier than the confrontation, the shooter had been yelling racial slurs on the youngsters, in response to an announcement from civil rights lawyer 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 regulation.
The sheriff’s workplace hasn’t confirmed there have been slurs uttered or mentioned whether or not race was an element within the capturing.
Lauren Smith, 40, lives throughout the road from the place the capturing 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 offended on a regular basis that the youngsters had been enjoying on the market,” Smith mentioned. “She would say nasty issues to them. Simply nasty.” Smith, who's white, described the neighborhood is household pleasant.
The sheriff mentioned that since January 2021, deputies responded no less than a half-dozen calls in reference to what police described as feuding between Owens and the girl who shot her.
“There was numerous aggressiveness from each of them, forwards and backwards,” the sheriff mentioned the shooter advised investigators. “Whether or not it's banging on the doorways, banging on the partitions and threats being made. After which at that second is when Ms. Owens was shot by way of the door.”
“I’m completely heartbroken,” Angela Ferrell-Zabala, government director of Mothers Demand Motion for Gun Sense in America, advised The Related Press. She described the deadly capturing as “so mindless.”
“We’ve seen this many times throughout this nation,” she mentioned, including that “it’s actually due to lax gun legal guidelines and a tradition of shoot first.”
Ferrell-Zabala mentioned stand your floor instances, which she refers to as “shoot first legal guidelines,” are deemed justifiable 5 occasions extra continuously 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. Meaning authorities must rule out self-defense earlier than bringing expenses. Earlier than the change in regulation, prosecutors might cost somebody with a capturing, after which protection attorneys must current an affirmative protection for why their shopper shouldn’t be convicted.
The truth is, stand your floor and “citadel doctrine” instances — which permit residents to defend themselves both by regulation or courtroom 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 Metropolis after mistakenly exhibiting up on the mistaken home to select up his youthful siblings. Lester faces expenses of first-degree assault and armed legal motion; at trial, he might 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.
Essentially 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.
Earlier than trial, Zimmerman’s attorneys selected to not pursue a stand your floor declare, which might have resulted within the dismissal of homicide adjustments in addition to immunity from prosecution. However throughout the trial, the regulation was basically 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 searching for justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.
“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mom, was shot and killed together with her 9-year-old son standing subsequent to her,” Dias mentioned. “She had no weapon. She posed no imminent menace to anybody.”
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Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.
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