Susan Lorincz, woman who fatally shot neighbor Ajike Owens through door, found guilty

Susan Lorincz, the Florida woman who fatally shot her neighbor Ajike “AJ” Owens through a closed door in June 2023, was found guilty Friday of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.

The verdict came just before 3pm ET. Judge Robert Hodges instructed Lorincz to be held in the Marion County Jail without bond pending sentencing. Lorincz appeared to shrug before leaving the courtroom with correctional officers. She faces 30 years in prison.

“Oh my God! Thank you, Jesus!” Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, screamed after Lorincz left the room.

“Today, our family can sleep a little better knowing that Susan Lorincz will no longer be a threat to our community, especially my grandchildren,” Dias told ABC News. “While this verdict does not bring my daughter AJ back to us, it does bring a sense of peace that I have long sought,” she said.

“I’m very pleased with the jury, with the indictment, with the guilty verdict,” Dias said at a news conference outside the courthouse in Ocala, Florida, after the verdict. “I take some solace in the verdict. I feel that even though my daughter is gone forever, the children’s mother is gone forever, but I got some justice for Ajike”.

Lorincz’s legal team declined to comment on ABC News’ request for a statement.

The six-person, all-white panel was seated Monday and began deliberating shortly after 12:00 a.m. ET Friday after prosecutors and the defense presented their closing arguments in a case that drew national attention.

Lorincz shot Owens, a black mother of four, through a closed door in front of her now 10-year-old son after she went to speak with Lorincz about a dispute over Owens’ children were playing near her home, according to a June 6 report. , 2023, statement from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).

Lorincz, who is white, was arrested on June 6, 2023, and charged with first-degree manslaughter for shooting Owens on June 2, 2023, in Ocala, Florida. She pleaded not guilty on July 10, 2023 and was held on $150,000 bail.

“This verdict is a critical step in securing justice for AJ and her family,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Owens’ family. “While nothing can erase the pain they have endured, today’s decision sends a clear message that senseless violence will be met with responsibility.”

How the process unfolded

Scores of neighbors, including two children, sheriff’s deputies, a dispatcher and 911 operator, crime scene investigators and forensic experts were among those who testified during the trial.

Prosecutors argued Lorincz should be found guilty of fatally shooting an “unarmed” Owens through a “locked” door.

“Ms. Owens was banging on the door and telling the defendant to come out,” defense attorney Rich Buxman said in closing arguments. “The belief that there was an immediate or imminent danger such that lethal force was necessary at that time was simply unreasonable because there was no imminent danger. And that word imminent is very important. It’s in the law for a reason… If Miss Owens had somehow managed to get through this locked, bolted metal door, entered her home and started coming toward her, the defendant would have had the right to shoot , because that danger would then have been imminent.”

The defense argued that Lorincz should be found not guilty because she acted in self-defense because she feared for her life.

“The law says you should only convict someone if you’re convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they’re guilty. . . . If you go back there and deliberate and think, ‘Man, she had something medical. She lived alone. She had these previous run-ins with Ajike, she could be afraid of her,” said Amanda Sizemore, Lorincz’s attorney. “And if you have a reasonable doubt, you should find Ms. Lorincz not guilty because that’s what the law says. And each of you has taken an oath to uphold the law.”

One focus of the state’s argument focused on the first 911 call Lorincz made to report “trespassing” on June 2, 2023 — minutes before he ended up shooting Owens.

According to witnesses, including sheriff’s deputies who responded to the shooting, law enforcement officers were already on their way to Lorincz’s home when the shooting occurred because she called 911 to report that three children — one Latino and two black — were “invading” her property.

During the trial, the locked door became the focus of the state’s argument and the subject of cross-examination during the deposition of various witnesses.

The defense claimed Owens told Lorincz he was going to “kill” her and was trying to “break down” Lorincz’s front door, which they claimed was “damaged.”

The state focused on that claim during testimony Tuesday from Lorincz’s former owner, Charles Gabbard.

Gabbard testified that before the shooting, he fixed a jam on Lorincz’s front door. He said her door was “structurally sound” after he repaired it, despite some cosmetic damage. He said the door was sturdy and had a chain, bolt and lock.

During cross-examination, Gabbard said Lorincz did not tell her how the door was damaged, but that “it was clear that someone had slammed” the door. He said that after fixing it, he planned to replace Lorincz’s door at some point. Asked by Lorincz’s attorney if the crack in the door was “substantial,” Gabbard said, “Yes.”

“Susan Lorincz told detectives, ‘I really thought he was going to break down my door,’” Sizemore said. “‘I actually thought I saw the door move.’ And I really think that’s what she said. I heard Susan say to them, “I heard Mrs. Owens (expletive) to kill you … I heard the door crack and when I heard that door crack I fired.

Hodges instructed that he would order a pre-sentence investigation at the request of the defense and schedule a sentencing at a later date. The judge said he believed sentencing would take place well before November.