A Florida woman who killed her neighbor after shooting at her through her door won’t face murder charges, the state attorney announced Monday.
Susan Lorincz, a white woman, fatally shot Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, during a dispute over Owens’s children on June 2. Owens had knocked on Lorincz’s door to confront her after her children said Lorincz yelled, threw a roller skate and swung an umbrella at them. Owen’s 10-year-old was reportedly standing behind her as she was shot.
Lorincz was arrested in early June on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault. Florida State Attorney William Gladson has now announced he will not be pursuing the charges of culpable negligence and battery, nor will he pursue a second-degree murder charge.
“As deplorable as the defendant’s actions were in this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove this specific and required element of second degree murder,” Gladson wrote in a release.
He added, “Given the facts in this case, aiming a firearm at the door, and pulling the trigger is legally insufficient to prove depraved mind.”
Gladson wrote that he has faced intense scrutiny from the public, including “angry phone calls” and “threats of violence.”
“Simply stated, my obligation is to follow the law,” he wrote.
Lorincz will be prosecuted for the first-degree felony offense of manslaughter with a firearm. If found guilty, she faces up to 30 years in prison.