A white Florida woman was arrested on multiple crimes including manslaughter after she fatally shot her Black neighbor through a door after a dispute with that neighbor's kids.
Susan Louis Lorincz, a 58-year-old resident of Marion County, shot 35-year-old Ajike "AJ" Owens after she had become increasingly angry at Owens' children who were playing in a field near their homes. A spokesman for the county sheriff's office, Zach Moore, told The Washington Post that Lorincz "had used racial slurs and racial language" toward those children, which may have included other kids who weren't related.
The investigation of the shooting, which happened late last week, found that Lorincz at one point yelled at and threw a roller skate at Owens' 9-year-old son, hitting him in the toe and also swung an umbrella at him and a brother. When Owens knocked on the woman's door, demanding she come out and speak to her, she was shot through the door with the 9-year-old standing next to her.
The county didn't actually arrest Lorincz until Tuesday of this week; it had previously said that the woman was justified based on Florida's stand-your-ground law. But a subsequent investigation (and local protests and statements from area politicians) led to the arrest.
“We are thankful to Sheriff Woods for the arrest last night," said civil rights Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Owens. "It brought great relief to...the family.”
Tragically, the children of the single mother of four say they feel guilt over not being able to save her. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family. As of this writing, it's raised more than $162,000.
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