Susan Lorincz, the 60-year-old Florida woman who fatally shot her Black neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens, has been found guilty of manslaughter.
On Friday (August 16), an all-white, six-person jury found Lorincz guilty of manslaughter in the June 2023 shooting of Owens, per the Associated Press.
Lorincz shot Owens through a closed door of her home last year after she knocked on the door, according to the victim’s attorneys. Before the fatal incident unfolded, investigators said Lorincz had become angry at Owens’ children, who were playing near her home. Owens’ family said Lorincz harassed the children and called them racial slurs before the mother’s killing.
The woman claimed she didn’t mean to shoot Owens and that she was frightened for her life. Lorincz wasn’t immediately arrested as the sheriff’s office investigated whether the shooting was justifiable under Florida’s stand-your-ground law.
Lorincz was later arrested on June 6, 2023. State Attorney Bill Gladson announced later that month that Lorincz would not be facing murder charges in Owens’ shooting death due to the “insufficient evidence.”
On Friday, a family member yelled out, “Oh, God. Thank you, Jesus,” after Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter and taken into custody. She faces up to 30 years in jail.
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