Over a year after four Black kids lost their mother to a shooting stemming from a neighborhood feud, the white woman who fired the fatal bullet is finally facing her punishment for the heartbreaking incident.
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In a sentencing hearing Monday, a judge ordered 60-year-old Susan Lorincz of Ocala, Fla., a white woman, to serve 25 years in prison. She was convicted of manslaughter by an all-white jury after fatally shooting 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens, a Black woman, following a dispute over Owens’ children playing outside.
Police said on June 2, 2023, Owens knocked on Lorincz’s front door after her children accused the woman of throwing a pair of roller skates at them and yelling racial slurs. According to police records, the two consistently called 911 on one another over the past year - Lorincz often accusing Owens’ children of trespassing or playing loudly and Owens accusing the woman of acting inappropriately. That evening marked the permanent end to their feud. Police said Lorincz fired a shot from her handgun behind the door, striking Owens in the chest. She succumbed to her injuries.
In her initial argument to the police, per surveillance and body camera footage, Lorincz hysterically explained how she was in fear of her life alleging Owens threatened to kill her. However, one officer testified at Lorincz’s trial that they believed she was faking the duress.
Lorincz’s public defender Amanda Sizemore, asked the court Monday for a lenient sentence, putting forth mitigating evidence including Lorincz’s mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder linked to childhood sex abuse and a number of health issues, per The New York Times. Still, Circuit Judge Robert Hodges sentenced her to just five years short of the maximum sentence she faced which was 30 years.
“I find the shooting was completely unnecessary,” said the judge, per ABC News. Lorincz didn’t take the stand but did offer an apology to Owens’ family.
“I am so sorry I took [Owens’] life. I never intended to kill her. I could not understand why she was so angry. I so wish I could go back and change things so she was still here. I would trade my life,” she said, per The Times.
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