Florida Woman Who Shot Her Neighbor Will Not Face Murder Charges

A 58-year old White woman accused of fatally shooting her Black neighbor through a closed door earlier this month will not face murder charges, Florida officials said.

The state will instead charge Susan Lorincz with one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault, State Attorney Bill Gladson said in a statement released Monday.

Lorincz has been at the Marion County Jail since her June 6 arrest by the sheriff’s office on charges of manslaughter.

The family of the dead woman, Ajike “AJ” Owens, 35, a mother of four, had asked for a murder charge, which would be punishable by up to life in prison. But Gladson said that there was not enough evidence to prove the crime.

“I am aware of the desire of the family, and some community members, that the defendant be charged with second-degree murder,” he said in the statement. “However, I cannot allow any decision to be influenced by public sentiment, angry phone calls or further threats of violence, as I have received in this case.”

According to the Owens family attorney Ben Crump, Owens was shot and killed on Friday (June 2) after one of her children accidentally left their iPad in a field they were playing in near an apartment complex in Ocala.

Reports state that Lorincz called the children racial slurs and yelled at the kids to “get off her land.” He said the woman took the iPad that was left behind by one of Owens’ children.

The children told their mother what had happened and she went to Lorincz’s home, knocked on her door and demanded she come outside, the authorities said. They said that Lorincz fired a shot through the door, striking Owens in the upper chest. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The sheriff’s office said that Lorincz had claimed that she had acted in self-defense and that she believed Owens was trying to break down her door. But they said that detectives were able to establish that her actions were not legally justifiable.

Lorincz could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted in the shooting, according to Gladson’s statement. Lorincz’s attorney had no comment on the charges, she told CNN, but an attorney for members of the Owens family said they were disappointed by the decision not to charge Lorincz with murder.

“The arrest affidavit all seemed to boil down to a murder charge,” he said. “Even if she’s given the 30 years, there’s a chance that the children will be alive to see her, which would be just a slap in the face.”

Charging Lorincz with murder would require the state to prove Lorincz had a “depraved mind” at the time of the shooting, the statement said.

“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,” Gladson’s statement read. “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.”

Lorincz told police she did not mean to hit Owens and was frightened for her own life, according to an arrest affidavit. She admitted using racial slurs against neighborhood children in the past, the affidavit says.