Jury hears evidence in trial of White woman who fatally shot Black neighbor amid dispute over kids playing outside
(CNN) — A Florida jury heard evidence for a second day in the manslaughter trial of Susan Lorincz, a 60-year-old White woman accused of fatallyshooting an unarmed Black mother during an ongoing dispute over the neighborhood children playing near her home.
The jury will determine whether Lorincz was justified under the state’s controversial self-defense laws when she fired through the front door of her central Florida apartment last June and killed 35-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens, who had been knocking on Lorincz’s door.
Lorincz is charged with manslaughter with a firearm and assault and has pleaded not guilty. She faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, according to State Attorney Bill Gladson’s office.
On Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from Marion County Sheriff’s Detective Ryan Stith, the lead investigator in the case. Prosecutors asked Stith to read a letter Lorincz reportedly wrote to Owens’ four children after he informed her she would be charged in Owens’ death.
“I am so, so sorry for your loss,” Stith read to the court. “I never meant to kill your mother. I was terrified your mom was going to kill me. I shot out of fear.”
Outside the courthouse, Owens’ mother, Pamala Dias, told reporters she struggled to maintain her composure throughout the trial.
“‘Difficult’ is putting it very mildly,” Dias said. “The amount of emotions, the disgust, the anguish, the pain – to sit there literally feet away from the woman who took my daughter’s life ... I have to dig deep within my strength, my faith to hold it all together.”
Owens’ children are expected to testify during the trial, but they were not present in court Wednesday. Dias told reporters the children feel “anxious” and she wishes they weren’t being asked to relive the day their mother was killed.
“But if this is what it takes to get justice, then this is what we have to do,” she said. “They are eager as well to see justice served, to have Susan prosecuted and behind bars.”
Lorincz showed little emotion as prosecutors showed jurors hours of footage of police interrogating her after the shooting.
In the video, Lorincz told detectives she’d previously argued with Owens about her children playing loudly and leaving toys outside her home. But, she told police the situation escalated on June 2, 2023, after she confronted the children about the noise and threw their roller skates.
Lorincz told detectives she called the police that evening to report that neighborhood children had threatened to kill her. She said dispatchers told her to lock her door and that officers were on the way.
But before police could arrive, Lorincz told detectives Owens began “banging on my door” and saying, “I’m going to kill you.”
“She bangs so hard it looked like my door was going to fly off,” Lorincz said in the video. “And I just, I panicked and I was like, ‘Oh my god, she’s really going to kill me this time.’ You know? And so, I don’t even remember picking the gun up, I just remember shooting.”
In court Wednesday, Stith testified his investigation did not reveal wood splinters or extensive damage to Lorincz’s door frame.
Jurors were also shown video of a second interrogation, filmed days later, where detectives asked Lorincz if she had researched Florida’s self-defense laws, specifically the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, prior to the shooting. Florida’s law allows people to meet “force with force” if they believe they or someone else is in danger of being seriously harmed by an assailant.
In that footage, Lorincz tells detectives she’d seen an article on the topic earlier in the day saying, “They had it up on Facebook.”
“Susan, I think you know the reason why I’m asking that question. You’re smart, OK,” Stith begins to say, but Lorincz cuts him off.
“Oh hell no. No. Absolutely– I know what you’re thinking, that I looked up the laws so that I could do something. No,” she says. “Absolutely not.”
Detectives later informed Lorincz that only two minutes had elapsed between the 911 call where she reports children were trespassing, and the second 911 call she made to inform dispatchers that she shot a woman banging on her door.
“From everything I’ve seen, it doesn’t rise to the level for you to justify shooting through a closed door and with a firearm, OK? And I think you know that that wasn’t reasonable, what you did,” a detective says in the video.
In opening statements on Tuesday, defense attorney Morris Carranza told jurors Lorincz was fearful that Owens would harm her, The Associated Press reported.
Carranza said Lorincz believed “in her mind, in her soul and in her core that she had no choice” but to shoot.
The defense attorney Morris Carranza stated that Lorincz believed she had no choice but to shoot due to fear of harm, implying the actions were taken to protect herself and us as the jury, as we are tasked with making a decision based on the evidence presented.
After the trial, Pamala Dias, Owens' mother, expressed her feelings to reporters about sitting in the courtroom near the woman who took her daughter's life, emphasizing the emotional toll this experience has had on her and us as witnesses to the proceedings.
