OCALA (Fla.) — The white woman accused of fatally shooting a Black neighbor through a closed door has a history for harassing children in the area and using racial slurs, said neighbors on Wednesday.
Susan Louise Lorincz was arrested on Tuesday for manslaughter, culpable neglect, battery, and two counts assault. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released a statement. The felony of manslaughter by firearm can be punished with up to 30 year in prison.
Authorities made the arrest days after Lorincz was accused of shooting Ajike “AJ”, a 35-year old mother of four through a closed-door in Ocala, Florida, on Friday night. According to the sheriff’s office, at least two of Owens’ children were present when the shooting took place. The investigation was criticized for its speed by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, and Owens’ family.
There was no immediate indication that Lorincz had an attorney to speak for her. She is currently being held at the Marion County Jail.
In interviews with NBC News neighbors recalled times when the suspect recorded their kids, taunted with slurs and called the police, all for the simple reason that they were children.
Sharna Mozell (36), who has lived around the neighborhood for about 12 years, says Lorincz was “a problem with kids.”
She said, “It is quiet here. Nobody bothers anybody.” “You know the kids are always having fun.” I have never complained about any of the kids. Everyone gets along. It doesn’t matter whether they are white, black, Puerto Rican or anyone else.
“Everybody in our neighborhood has fought with this woman over our children”
Phyllis Wills (33), a resident of the area for 15 years, was able to recall her neighbors. She was familiar with Wilson and Lorincz, “because she would come out and harass our children all the time,” she explained. Everyone in the neighborhood had a feud with her over our kids.
She claimed that Lorincz was not happy with children being children.
Susan Louise Lorincz was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Our kids used to play on that field all the time. It’s a complex of apartments. They’re children that are going to do something. She would say, “Get off my lawn you —-, or you retards, or you N word.” Every time she saw them in that patch of grass. Wills said that she would point guns at the people.
Wills continued, “She recorded the kids every time she went outside. She got into her car and turned up the volume on the radio to get the kids going. She got into her car and blew the horn continuously for long periods to agitate kids. She drove her truck fast out here. Just crazy things.”
She claimed that she had never called the cops on Lorincz, but “stood outside my yard and yelled” at her because of the way Lorincz spoke to the children. But I have never had a real conversation with her. “She wasn’t someone you could converse with.”
‘Mama Karen called the Police on us today’
Mozell claimed that Lorincz recorded children playing outside, taunting them. Her children are aged 19, 18, 17 and 10 Her daughter, 10, would play with the other kids in her neighborhood most often.
She used to constantly record them. Mozell stated that she would flick the cameras off as she records children, while calling out their names.
She said that Lorincz bullied children, and she was called ” Susan” in the neighborhood. This is a term used to refer to a racist white woman who harasses and abuses people of colour. Mozell’s youngest daughter said that Lorincz recorded them and then contacted authorities for the simple act of playing.
Mozell’s daughter told her that Karen had called the police to report her.
She said: “But, the police never do anything… because we are kids and we’re playing.” I didn’t get it. Like, what was she trying to do or the problem?
This world is really, truly nasty
The shooting took place around 9 pm on Friday. Lorincz was angry that Owens’s children were playing on a nearby field, and he “engaged in an arguement” with them, according to the sheriff’s department.
Lorincz, during the argument, threw an ice skate at Owens 10-year-old child and then swung a umbrella at the boy and his sister, according to sheriff’s department. Lorincz then shot Owens through the door after she knocked multiple times on Lorincz’s door.
According to the sheriff’s office, Owens died after being shot in the upper chest.
Willis was cooking dinner for her family when Owens’ child knocked on her door.
She said, “It was so noisy that my windows were shaking.” “So, I’m like “What the hell?” “What the heck?” I thought. I went to open the door, and there was Isaac, her oldest child, gasping for breath. He’s barely able to speak. He’s saying, “The woman shot my mother!” ”
She added, “I already know who’s he is talking about because she was the only one out here that had a feud with the kids.”
Crump, the Owens family’s lawyer, as well as the relatives and loved-ones of the woman who was killed, have stated that Lorincz used racial epithets to describe Owens’ children before the fatal encounter.
Lorincz said she discharged her gun in self-defense and that Owens was trying to smash her door before she did so, the sheriff’s statement stated.
Crump has raised concerns about race, and Florida’s self-defense “stand your ground” law.
In a statement released Tuesday night, attorneys representing Owens’ family including Crump said that they were relieved the woman allegedly responsible for the tragic death of Ajike AJ Owens had been arrested. However, they expressed concern that it took this long to bring the accused to justice because there are archaic laws such as Stand Your Ground.
Mozell’s son Jamerien Wilson (18) said that he saw the aftermath of Owens’ shooting.
He claimed that he was outside and saw police cars all around him. Then he saw Owens lying on the ground with someone doing CPR. He claimed he was unaware of what had happened at the time and did not know that Owens was shot.
Wilson admitted that he did not know Owens very well, but he knew her son of 12 years because they played basketball with other children in the neighborhood.
She never bothered anyone. He said that she was always at home and did what needed to be done for her children.
Wilson called the shooting tragic.
You’ve taken this woman from her children. You know, it’s just another Black soul that has been lost on Earth. We don’t need it. “Bro, this world really is nasty,” said he.
It was a simple killing
Sheriff Billy Woods stated that investigators are legally required to determine whether Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law applies before making an arrest.
He claimed that the death of Owens did not fall under the law of self-defense.
Woods stated, “It was a simple killing.”
Crump stated in an interview on Tuesday that there was no justification to the murder.
He said: “She should never feel threatened by the person who knocks on her door. “If she felt fear, then call the police.” Why would you shoot through a door made of metal?
The sheriff’s department reported that Lorincz shot one bullet through the door.
Crump claimed that Owens’s children were playing in a nearby field when the woman who shot her did so. She yelled to them. He said that one of the children had left behind an iPad, which was taken by the woman.
In a redacted sheriff’s report, it is mentioned that the deputies at the scene were informed that a woman, who at that time was described as a suspected, had taken an iPad.
According to an incident report from the sheriff’s department, deputies were responding to a call regarding trespassing when they heard there had been a shooting. They arrived and found Owens lying in the grass, not breathing, after being shot.
Mozell admitted that her neighbor’s death by gunshot was a difficult thing to cope with. Ocala has a population of 63,000 people, about 60 miles north of Orlando.
The mood, the energy has changed. You could feel the change, even though nothing was really different. It’s strange because it was always quiet. It’s like something big, that this happening is so sad. “We’re not used things like that,” said she.
Minyvonne Burk reported from Ocala in Florida and Antonio Planas reported from New York City.
