Black Mom Who Was Fatally Shot Through Door "Absolutely Lived For Her Four Children"

A Florida woman has been arrested after fatally shooting her neighbor, mom of four Ajike “AJ” Owens. According to Marion County police, the shooting took place after an altercation between the two women over Owens’ children playing outside. Owens reportedly knocked on the door to talk to her neighbor, 58-year-old Susan Lorincz, and was shot through the door.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told journalists in a news conference on Monday that Owens, 35, was found “unresponsive” when they arrived to address a trespassing call last Friday. “Upon arrival, they found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound and immediately rendered aid until medics could arrive, but unfortunately, Miss Owens passed,” Woods said.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the family, further explained in a statement that Owens’ children had been playing in the yard next to an apartment complex when a “white woman reportedly began yelling at them to get off her land and calling them racial slurs.” The woman reportedly threw an iPad and a roller skate at the children, and Owens went to the address to speak with her. Owens was shot through the door and later died of her injuries. Owens’ 10-year-old son was with her when she was shot, according to police.

While no arrest was initially made in Owens’ shooting, Marion County police charged Lorincz on Tuesday with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery, and two counts of assault.

Lorincz told police that she had acted in self-defense when she shot Owens through a closed door, claiming that the single mother of four was attempting to break down the door. After further investigation, officers were able to establish that the shooting was not lawful under the state’s controversial “stand your ground” law and was, in fact, “simply a killing” according to Sheriff Woods. The “stand your ground” law in Florida gives residents the right to use “reasonable force, including deadly force, to protect themselves against an intruder in their home,” according to the National Conference of State Legislates. Police do not believe that was what happened in this case.

Owens’ family had been calling for an arrest after her shooting, including Owens’ mom Pamela Dias. “My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her ... son standing next to her,” Dias said in a news conference, according to CBS News. “She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone.”

According to the devastated grandmother, Owens’ son is suffering with feelings of guilt after his mother’s death. “Our 12-year-old blames himself for the death of his mother because he couldn't save her. He couldn't give her CPR,” Dias told reporters.

Dias has started a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs and future housing for Owens’ four children, with over $260,000 raised so far. In the aftermath of this tragedy, Owens’ family said they have also partnered with activists and national advocacy groups to reverse Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

“[Owens] had a smile that would light up the room. But most of all, she was known for how much she loved and absolutely lived for her four children,” her mother shared on GoFundMe. “She was a single mother whose life centered around her children.”