Susan Lorincz convicted of fatal shooting of black neighbor

A white Florida woman was found guilty Friday of shooting her black neighbor over an ongoing dispute over children playing outside the victim's home.

Susan Lorincz, 60, was found guilty of manslaughter by an all-white jury in an Ocala, Florida, court after deliberating for two and a half hours in the June 2, 2023, shooting death of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a mother of four.

After the stoic Lorincz was escorted out by officers, Owens' family began to sob in the courtroom's public gallery.

“The defendant's decisions have left four young children without their mother, a loss they will feel for the rest of their lives,” prosecutor William Gladson said in a statement. “While today's verdict cannot bring AJ back, we hope it brings some measure of justice and peace to her family and friends.”

During the trial, the jury was presented with evidence that Lorincz once fired her .380 pistol through her door, hitting Owens, because she was “angry” that Owens' four children were playing on a lawn next to their homes.

Lorincz complained that the children bullied her for almost the entire three years she lived there, prosecutors claimed.

But Lorincz's defense attorneys argued that she fired her gun in self-defense. They said a much larger, 290-pound and much younger Owens, 35, knocked on her door. Her attorneys said her actions were legal under Florida's “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows people to use deadly force in cases of self-defense.

Owens confronted Lorincz that day after her children told her that the elderly neighbor had thrown roller skates and an umbrella at them because they were playing rough outside. Owens and Lorincz had argued before for the same reason.

And in an emergency call, Lorincz had complained: “I’m just fed up with these children.”

Prosecutor Rich Buxman told the jury that this and other evidence showed that Lorincz “was not afraid, but angry” when she shot Owens.

“It's not a crime to bang on someone's door. It's not a crime to scream,” Buxman said during his closing argument. “There was no immediate danger when she fired the gun.”

Although Lorincz did not testify in court, the jury heard a recording of her police interview in which she said she never intended to hurt Owens.

The case sparked controversy last year when police took two weeks to charge Lorincz. When she was finally charged, it was a lesser count of manslaughter rather than premeditated murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison. A date for the sentencing has not yet been set.

With post wires