[chris]

Susan Louise Lorincz was sentenced on November 25, 2024, to 25 years in the Florida Department of Corrections after a Marion County jury convicted her of manslaughter with a firearm in the fatal shooting of Ajike "AJ" Owens through a locked front door.

Owens, 35, was a mother of four who lived near Lorincz in Marion County, Florida, near Ocala. Lorincz was 58 at the time of the shooting. She had repeatedly called law enforcement during a dispute lasting about two years over children playing on a field beside her home. Lorincz blamed their lack of respect for her peace and privacy and admitted using racial slurs and other offensive language toward them.

On June 2, 2023, Lorincz threw a skate at one of Owens's children, striking the child in the foot, then called 911 to report children trespassing on her property. Owens went to Lorincz's door with one of her sons, reported as 10 years old and not named here, and knocked and demanded that Lorincz come outside. Lorincz fired a handgun through the closed and locked door, striking and killing Owens as her son stood beside her. Owens was unarmed.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office major crimes division investigated. During an interview, Lorincz described banging and yelling at her door and said, "It was banging, it was yelling, I thought she was going to break down the door." She said Owens had told her, "Don't speak to my children that way, I'm going to kill you." Lorincz said she was terrified, invoked self-defense under Florida's stand your ground law and denied calling one of Owens's children a slave.

Investigators concluded the shooting was not justifiable. Lorincz was arrested on June 6, 2023, four days after the shooting, on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault. On June 26, 2023, State Attorney William Gladson filed one count of manslaughter with a firearm, a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years, and one count of assault. He declined to charge second-degree murder, citing insufficient evidence of hatred, spite, ill will or evil intent. The misdemeanor culpable negligence, battery and assault counts from the arrest were dropped.

Lorincz's defense argued self-defense during a trial that ran about a week in August 2024. The jury convicted her on August 16, 2024. Circuit Judge Robert Hodges imposed a sentence five years short of the maximum, citing her lack of a criminal record. He said the shooting was completely unnecessary because Lorincz was behind a locked door and knew law enforcement was on the way, adding that "the shooting was based, I find, more on anger than fear." Lorincz told the court, "I'm just profoundly sad. Not only did a mother die, but a daughter and a sister." Owens's mother, Pamela Dias, said the apology was not sincere. Lorincz filed an appeal, reported on December 18, 2024, which stated she would need a public defender.

The posted video contains about 153 minutes of police interview-room footage from the Marion County Sheriff's Office interview and was publicly released in June 2024. It is split into two parts and shows the interview itself without narration or a presenter.

[chris]

Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

[chris]

Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.

[LuckiiDevil21]

Thanks for helping me get to sleep once again.