Nigerian Mother of four was shot dead by a US neighbor over a disagreement between her children.
Ajike Owens, a Nigerian mother of four, was shot dead by a white neighbor while she was attempting to collect an iPad stolen from her child in front of their home in Ocala, Florida, the United States.
According to a Monday Twitter post by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, the 35-year-old lady known as ‘AJ’ was murdered in the presence of her 9-year-old kid. Crump said that the Nigerian woman was shot by her 58-year-old female neighbor, who had previously complained about Owens’ children playing outside.
Susan Lorincz, 58, was charged with manslaughter with a firearm and other charges, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, was killed in a shooting Friday night that Sheriff Billy Woods described as the culmination of a 2.5-year rivalry between the neighbors. They lived in the rolling hills south of Ocala, a city in north Florida in the center of horse country.
According to the sheriff’s office, evidence suggested that Lorincz became enraged over Owens’ children playing in a field near her apartment over time. Lorincz got into a disagreement with the kids on Friday night, according to the office, and “was overheard yelling at them by a neighbor.”
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Lorincz threw a roller skate at Owens’ 10-year-old son and injured him in the toe during the fight, according to the office. After that, the child and his 12-year-old brother went to meet with Lorincz, she opened her door and flung an umbrella at them. “Owens approached Lorincz’s home, knocked on the door multiple times, and demanded that Lorincz come outside,” they told their mother, Lorincz then shot through the door, hitting Owens in the upper chest.
“At the time she was shot, Owens’ 10-year-old son was standing beside her,” according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies responding to a trespassing incident at the apartment on Friday night discovered Owens with gunshot wounds. She died later in a hospital.
Lorincz told the sheriff’s office that she acted in self-defense because Owens was attempting to smash down her door. Lorincz also stated that Owens had pursued her. However, “detectives were able to establish that Lorincz’s actions were not justifiable under Florida law” and she was detained, according to the agency.
Lorincz faces up to 30 years in jail if convicted of manslaughter, according to the office. She’s also accused with culpable neglect, violence, and two counts of assault.
In a statement, Billy Woods stated, “I want to thank Ms. Owens’ family for their patience as we conducted the diligent investigation that we were bound by law to conduct.” Ms. Lorincz’s fate is now in the hands of the legal system, which I am confident will bring justice in due time. I’ll say a prayer for Ms. Owens’ children and the rest of her family before I go to bed tonight.
At a press conference on Monday, Owens’ family members demanded her arrest. Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, said at a vigil on Monday that she was seeking justice for her daughter and grandkids.
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“My daughter, the mother of my grandchildren, was shot and killed while her son stood next to her,” Dias added. “She didn’t have a weapon.” She posed no immediate danger to anyone.”
According to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Owens’ family, the shooter was hurling racist obscenities at the children before to the incident.
In 2012, he defended Trayvon Martin’s family in a case that drew international attention to the state’s stand your ground law. The sheriff’s office has not confirmed any slurs were uttered. Whether race played a role in the shooting was not stated.
In the country’s newest flashpoint over race and gun violence, around three dozen predominantly Black protestors gathered outside the Marion County Judicial Center Tuesday to demand that the shooter be jailed. State Attorney William Gladson, the chief prosecutor, met with the protesters and advised them to be patient while the investigation was ongoing.
Woods stated on Monday that investigators were working with the State Attorney’s Office and needed to investigate possible self-defense claims before proceeding with any criminal charges. Because of the stand your ground rule, the sheriff said he couldn’t make an arrest unless he could establish the shooter didn’t act in self-defense.
On Tuesday, a stuffed teddy bear and roses were placed at the location where Owens was shot. Children were riding bikes and scooters and playing basketball nearby. Protesters screamed “No justice, no peace” and “A.J.” referring to Owens’ mother. They held signs that read, “Say her name Ajike Owens” and “It’s all about us.”
Outside, Rev. Bernard Tuggerson stated that the Black community in Ocala has long endured injustices. “Marion County is in pain and needs to be completely healed,” he stated. “It will be an ongoing problem if we do not repent of our wicked ways in the world.” We need answers.”
Lauren Smith, 40, lives across the street from the scene of the incident. She was on her porch that day when she noticed one of Owens’ little sons were pacing and yelling, “They shot my mama, they shot my mama.” She dashed toward the home and began performing chest compressions until help arrived. She said there was no altercation and that Owens lacked a weapon.
“She was enraged the entire time the kids were playing out there,” Smith claimed. “She’d say hurtful things to them. Simply disgusting.” Smith, who is White, described the community as welcoming to families.
According to the sheriff, deputies have responded to at least a half-dozen calls in connection with what authorities described as a conflict between Owens and the lady who shot her. “There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” the gunman told detectives, according to the sheriff.
“Whether it’s banging on the doors, banging on the walls, or threats.” And it was then that Ms. Owens was shot through the door.” “I’m absolutely heartbroken,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, Executive Director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The fatal shooting, she said, was “so senseless.”
“We’ve seen this time and time again across this country,” she said, adding, “it’s really because of lax gun laws and a culture of shoot first.” Stand your ground instances, often known as “shoot first laws,” according to Ferrell-Zabala, are justified five times more frequently when a White shooter kills a Black victim.
Florida lawmakers amended the state’s self-defense statute in 2017 to transfer the burden of proof from the person claiming self-defense to prosecutors. That means authorities must rule out self-defense before charging anyone. Previously, prosecutors could charge someone with a shooting and then defense attorneys had to show an affirmative argument for why their client should not be convicted.
Indeed, stand your ground and “castle doctrine” cases – which empower residents to defend themselves when endangered by legislation or judicial precedent – have caused uproar in the midst of a nationwide shooting spree.
In April, 84-year-old White man Andrew Lester shot and injured 16-year-old Black boy Ralph Yarl after he accidentally rang his doorbell in Kansas City after arriving at the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings. Lester is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action; at trial, he may claim that he mistook someone trying to break into his residence for an intruder, as he told police.
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Missouri and Florida are two of the approximately 30 states that have stand your ground legislation. One of the most well-known instances of the stand your ground argument occurred during the prosecution of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman, who was born to a White father and a Hispanic mother, claimed authorities that Martin assaulted him and forced him to use his revolver in self-defense. He was released, but was arrested six weeks later after Martin’s parents questioned his version of events.
In his own reply, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods stated during a press conference on Monday afternoon that the shooting appeared to be the climax of a conflict between the neighbors. Deputies had been summoned to the address “six to eight” times in the previous two and a half years, according to Woods.
He said he couldn’t corroborate that Owens was attempting to collect an iPad when she was slain, but that the shooter had thrown skates at Owens’ children prior to the fatal incident.
“If someone threw something at my child, I’d be pissed off, what parent wouldn’t be?” Woods remarked. Who wouldn’t be irritated by that, regardless of whether they threw it at them on purpose?
“I wish our shooter had called us instead of us taking action on our own.” I wish Mrs Owens had phoned us so we wouldn’t have ended up where we are now.”
“We’re not cold-hearted bastards; we’re not going to interview children on the night their mother was possibly murdered.” We’ll just have to wait. We must rely on specialists and expert counsellors to meet with them, but I’m here to promise the family and friends that my office will do everything in its power to bring justice,” Woods continued.
The event occurred while numerous youngsters were playing on the lawn in front of a duplex structure in the property, according to the report. According to them, a female resident emerged from one of the flats, tossed something at the youngsters, snatched up an iPad, and went back inside.
According to the neighbor, one of the children told Owens what had happened, and she went to the woman’s door. “She confronted her, and, according to one side, there was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth, whether it was banging on the doors, banging on the walls, and threats being made,” Woods explained.
“And then, at that precise moment, Owens was shot through the door.”
