Florida Woman Sentenced to 25 Years for Fatal Shooting of Neighbor Through Door

Susan Lorincz, a 60-year-old woman from Florida, has received a 25-year prison sentence for the fatal shooting of her 35-year-old neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens, last year. The incident occurred in Ocala when Lorincz discharged a firearm through her locked front door while Owens was knocking, amidst a disagreement concerning Owens’s children playing outdoors. Before the shooting on June 2, 2023, Lorincz, who is white, reportedly directed racial epithets at Owens’s children, who are black, according to statements from Owens’s family and an affidavit. In August, a jury found Lorincz guilty of one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault. The legal proceedings examined Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows for the use of deadly force when acting in self-defense. The deadly shooting was preceded by multiple disputes between Lorincz and Owens, leading to police intervention on at least six occasions since January 2021. It is understood that the confrontation originated from an earlier incident on the same day, during which Lorincz reportedly yelled at Owens’s children and hit one of them with a roller skate. While inside her residence, Lorincz fired a handgun, hitting Owens, a single mother of four, in the chest. Although she did not provide testimony during her trial, Lorincz informed investigators that she feared for her life as Owens approached her door. Lorincz stated to Marion County Sheriff’s investigators, “I panicked and I thought, ‘Oh my God, she’s really going to kill me this time,’ you know. And so I don’t even actually remember picking up the gun, I just remember shooting.” Her legal counsel asserted to the jurors that she had “no choice.” However, at the sentencing hearing on Monday, Judge Robert Hodges declared that the shooting was motivated “more by anger than fear” and that “at the time she fired the gun through the door, she was safe.” Judge Hodges recognized Lorincz’s childhood abuse and her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as mitigating circumstances. Nevertheless, he determined that these factors did not warrant a significant decrease from her potential maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Speaking to the court on Monday, Lorincz denied using racial slurs against Owens’s children and maintained that the shooting was “not about race.” She told the court, “I am so sorry that I took AJ’s life. I never intended to kill her. The night I shot that gun I was confused as to why she was screaming and pounding on my door. Please accept my humble and sincere apology for this tragedy.” During the trial, prosecutor Rich Buxman contended that for Lorincz’s use of force to be lawful, the threat to her life needed to be “imminent.” Mr. Buxman stated, “If Ms Owens would somehow have managed to bust through this locked, dead bolted metal door, enter her house and start coming at her, the defendant may have had a right to shoot… but that’s not the situation we have here.” At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors also challenged the defense’s assertion regarding PTSD, noting that Lorincz had sought treatment for the condition on two occasions, with the most recent instance occurring five years prior to the shooting. Owens’s family had initially requested that federal hate crime charges be filed in connection with the case. Florida implemented a “stand your ground” law in 2005, which grants individuals the right to defend themselves using reasonable force, including deadly force, to avert death or serious bodily harm. Versions of “stand your ground” laws are in effect in a minimum of 28 states. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external sites. Information regarding their approach to external linking is available.