The White woman who fatally shot her Black neighbor through her front door in Ocala, Florida, has been arrested, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Police said 58-year-old Susan Louise Lorincz was arrested for the June 2 death of 35-year-old Ajike Owens. Lorincz has been charged with manslaughter with a firearm — a first-degree felony punishable up to 30 years in prison — in addition to culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault.
Addressing the flood of calls for an immediate arrest, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said that police had to follow the process according to Florida law, whether or not he agreed with it.
"My detectives have been working around the clock since this happened, sifting through evidence and interviewing witnesses," Woods said in a video posted to Facebook.
"We want the same thing as Ms. Owens' family — and that's justice," he said. "Now here's the thing about justice — she's on her own time. Not my time, not a prosecutor's time, not even a mob's time — a mob seeking, well, what they think is justice."
Woods thanked those who sent messages encouraging the arrest of Lorincz, saying it shows that they care about a fellow human being.
"Rushing in to make an arrest is not the right thing to do sometimes. In fact, it could probably cause complications or cause errors. Because we want to ensure that what we present, that justice is served all the way through the courts," said the sheriff.
Woods mentioned that the department needed all sides of the story first, and that the night of the killing, all they had was the shooter's story. He explained that Owens' story had to be told through evidence and eyewitnesses.
Family demanding arrest after woman shot, killed through front door
Ajike Owens was apparently trying to retrieve her child's tablet from a neighbor when she was shot through the woman's front door and killed.
Owens was a mother of four, and her children were among those interviewed. Lorincz was also interviewed by detectives. Detectives reviewed forensic evidence, digital evidence and surveillance footage from various sources, police said.
Woods talked through Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, saying that while it is meant to help residents of the state defend themselves, it doesn't apply in all situations, and called this incident a "prime example of that."
"It was not justified, it was simply a killing," said Woods.
Police said the evidence established that over a period of time, Lorincz had grown angry at Owens' kids, who were playing in a field near her home. On June 2, she argued with the children and threw a roller skate at Owens' 12-year-old son, striking the child in the toe. When the 12-year-old brother approached Lorincz to speak with her, she swung an umbrella at them. She also yelled racial slurs at the children, according to attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Owens' family.
When the children told their mother what happened, Owens went to the home of Lorincz and knocked multiple times, demanding that she come outside. Police said that's when Lorincz fired one shot through the door, hitting Owens in the chest. Owens' 10-year-old son was standing beside her when she was shot.
Woods said he delivered on his promise to bring justice to Owens' family, and that the fate of Lorincz is now in the hands of the judicial system.
