Trial begins in case of white woman who fatally shot Black neighbor during dispute

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida jury will determine whether a 60-year-old white woman was justified when she fired through the door of her central Florida apartment a year ago, killing a Black mother during an ongoing dispute over neighborhood children.

In opening statements on Tuesday, jurors were told that shortly before Ajike “A.J.” Owens was killed on June 2, 2023, the children had been playing in a small field outside the apartment where Susan Lorincz lived in Ocala, which is 80 miles (128 kilometers) northwest of Orlando in central Florida.

Lorincz told investigators that the children were running and yelling outside her apartment. She went outside, saw some skates on the ground and threw them at the children.

She went back inside her apartment, defense attorney Morris Carranza told jurors.

Owens, who was the mother of several of the children and who lived across the street, went to Lorincz’s apartment to confront her. Owens was apparently angry at how Lorincz dealt with the children, lawyers said in opening statements.

Owens banged loudly on her door, Carranza said.

“A.J. was pounding, and she was cursing,” Carranza said during opening statements. He said that Owens had threatened his client, and she feared the woman would break the door down.

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He said Lorincz was standing a few feet from the front door, beside her table as the pounding on the door continued.

Prosecutors said the door was locked and told jurors that Owens was not armed.

Carranza argued that Lorincz was fearful that Owens would harm her.

She believed “in her mind, in her soul and in her core that she had no choice” but to fire one round from her .380-caliber handgun, her attorney told the jury.

Yvonne Costa, who lived in the apartment that shared a wall with Lorincz, testified Tuesday that she heard loud voices shortly before the shooting, but she couldn’t understand what was being said.

Then the pounding started. It was loud, she testified.

“The wall in between our two apartments started shaking,” Costa said. “It was very loud. And it scared me.”

She testified she then heard a loud pop, followed by more screaming. She ran to her bedroom to call 911.

Witnesses said that Owens stumbled from the porch, and she yelled for someone to call 911 before falling to the ground.

Lorincz is charged with manslaughter and faces up to 30 years in prison.

State Attorney William Gladson has said his office contemplated filing a second-degree murder charge but that prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence that Lorincz had “hatred, spite, ill will or evil intent” toward Owens.