Racist Psychopathy

"She was angry all the time that the children were playing out there."

"She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty."

"[The neighbourhood is] family friendly], that the shooter is claiming self-defence is] outrageous."

Lauren Smith, 40, witness-resident, north Florida's Ocala horse country

 

"I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands."

"I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today."

"Now many of you were struggling to understand why there was not an immediate arrest. 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."

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods

 

"I'm absolutely heartbroken. [That fatal shooting was] so senseless."

"[Stand your ground cases] 'shoot first' laws [are considered justifiable five times more often when a white shooter kills a Black victim]."

"We've seen this again and again across this country. It's really because of lax gun laws and a culture of shoot first."

Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America 

Ajike "AJ" Owens was shot and killed in Florida.  Benjamin Crump

The killing of 35-year-old Ajike Owens, the mother of four children on Friday night in north Florida was the culmination of two-and-half-years of feuding between a white neighbour and a Black neighbour, with the white woman shooting to death her Black neighbour right on her front doorstep. The shooter, a woman who murdered her neighbour, is claiming self-defence under Florida's 'stand your ground' law. Susan Lorincz, 58, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm and other offenses.

The neighbourhood in which this killing occurred is in an area known as the state's horse country in rolling hills south of Ocala. Black protesters chanting "No justice, no peace" and "A.J., A.J., A.J.", the nickname of Ms. Owens, carried signs that read: "Say her name Ajike Owens", and "It's about us". This was not a violent protest, but an agonized call for justice, where a number of small children were present.

According to the sheriff, Ajike Owens was shot immediately she appeared at the apartment of her neighbour. She went there to protest her neighbours' abusive behaviour toward her children. As the children played in a nearby lot, the neighbour screamed at the children. This neighbour, Susan Lorincz, appears to have thrown a pair of skates, hitting one of the children. 

Responding to a trespassing call Friday night, deputies discovered Ajike Owens in a severely wounded state. Taken to hospital, she later died there. Prior to the confrontation the shooter was  yelling racial slurs at the children. Lauren Smith, another white neighbour living across the street from Anike Owen saw one of the young Owens boys running, yelling "They shot my mama, they shot my mama!" The  ten-year-old had been standing next to his mother when she was shot in the chest.

Lauren Smith ran to the house and began chest compressions on the comatose woman until a rescue crew's arrival. She informed them that no altercation had taken place (she had been sitting on her porch), and that the mother of the four children had no weapon. Since January7, 2021 deputies had responded a half-dozen times in relation to the feuding between the two neighbours.

Stand your ground and "castle doctrine" cases permitting residents to defend themselves by law or court precedent when threatened, have been the subject of outrage, sparked by a number of shootings across the country. 84-year-old Andrew Lester, in April had shot and injured Ralph Yari, a 16-year-old Black teen who had mistakenly rung his doorbell in Kansas City, to pick up his younger siblings.

Charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action is what Mr. Lester faces at trial with the expectation he will opt to argue he thought someone was trying to break into his  house. Florida and Missouri are two of about 30 states that have stand your ground laws.

 

Marion County police arrested Susan Lorincz, 58, after she allegedly shot Owens, 35, through her door during a confrontation Friday night in Ocala.

Associated Press