The White Florida Woman Who Shot And Killed AJ Owens, Her Neighbor And A Black Mother Of 4, Found Guilty Of Manslaughter

Susan Lorincz, the Florida woman who shot and killed her neighbor Ajike “AJ” Owens in June 2023, has been convicted of manslaughter . On Aug. 16, a jury of six people convicted the 59-year-old white woman, who had admitted to killing her 35-year-old Black neighbor after a dispute about Owens’ kids playing in Lorincz’s yard.

According to WESH , prosecutors said Lorincz went to Owens’ house after the dispute and shot her through the locked front door. While the defense said Lorincz feared for her life, prosecutors added that Owens was unarmed and she didn’t threaten her neighbor.

“We are united in our grief, but we are also united in our hope for a better tomorrow,” the Owens family said in a statement on Aug. 15, per WESH.

Lorincz’s defense team used Florida’s Stand Your Ground law as they made their case in court. The jury, however, concluded that the Stand Your Ground law — which allows people to use deadly force when they feel threatened — doesn’t apply in this case.

“We still believe that ‘stand your ground’ is a discriminatory law that disproportionately impacts people of color,” attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Owens family, told reporters, per WESH. “We are grateful that in this case. The jury did not accept this law as justification for an unjustifiable killing.”

As Blavity reported, police arrested Lorincz in June 2023 and charged her with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault. The family criticized officials then for taking too long to bring the charges.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods released a statement on Facebook, saying the shooting was not a Stand Your Ground case.

“Now many of you were struggling to understand why there was not an immediate arrest,” the sheriff said on Facebook. “The laws here in the state of Florida are clear. Now I may not like them. I may not agree with them. But however, those laws I will follow.”

According to Blavity, Lorincz and Owens were feuding for years before the traffic dispute. Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said Lorincz had used racial slurs to insult the 35-year-old woman.

“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon, she posed no imminent threat to anyone,” Dias said at a news conference after the shooting. “What I’m asking is for justice. Justice for my daughter.”