A 60-year-old White woman, found guilty of manslaughter in last year’s deadly shooting of her Black neighbor through a closed door, was sentenced Monday in Florida to 25 years in prison, as the judge ruled the shooting “was based more on anger than fear.”
“I find that the shooting, when I listened to every aspect of the trial and every aspect of the sentencing here, the facts don’t rise to a murder charge, but they are very aggravated manslaughter,” Judge Robert Hodges said before sentencing Susan Lorincz, who faced a maximum of 30 years for one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault.
Lorincz expressed little emotion as the judge announced the 25-year sentence, but she cried earlier as she issued a statement to 35-year-old Ajike Owens’ family.
“I am profoundly sad. Not only did a mother die, but a daughter and a sister. I so wish I could go back and change things so that she could be here,” Lorincz said.
“I feel horrible for my actions. Please accept my sincere and humble apology for this tragedy,” Lorincz added, as she insisted the shooting “was not about race.”
Lorincz was convicted in August for shooting through the front door of her apartment following an ongoing dispute over Owens’ children who had been told to “get off her land” after she called “them racial slurs,” according to Owens’ family attorney Ben Crump.
“It never happened,” Lorincz insisted Monday during her sentencing statement. “I never called anyone the ‘N’ word.”
Owens was knocking on Lorincz’s door on June 2, 2023, when she was shot from the other side. Owens later died from her injuries.
“I was terrified of this woman,” Lorincz claimed Monday, after listing dozens of health issues she faces to explain her fear. “When she was banging on that door, it was so loud. This woman kept coming after me, calling me crazy. This woman was terrorizing me.”
But Judge Hodges said he found “the shooting to be based more on anger than fear.”
“Although she was knocking loudly, she was not attempting to get into the residence. She was behind a door. The door was locked and police were on their way,” Hodges said, adding that Lorincz inflicted the greater injury that will affect Owens’ family for the rest of their lives.
“They will live their whole lives without their mother, which is a significant harm inflicted upon them by Lorincz,” the judge said.
Earlier Monday, Owens’ family said Lorincz deserved “the maximum penalty under the law.”
“There is not a day, not an hour, that I do not mourn for my daughter,” said Pamela Davis, Owens’ mother, who spoke on behalf of her daughter.
“I also mourn for my grandchildren. I weep for them. Every tear from my eyes is for Titus, Africa, Ezra and Isaac,” Davis said. “I see the pain in their eyes. Even when they seem like they’re happy. I recognize it because I carry that same pain.”
@United Press International