Jury convicts white Florida woman in fatal shooting of her Black neighbor during ongoing dispute

A white Florida woman was convicted Friday of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black neighbor after the jury rejected her claims that she fired through a metal door in self-defense amid an ongoing dispute over children playing outside her home.

The all-white jury in Ocala, Florida, found 60-year-old Susan Lorincz guilty after 2 1/2 hours of deliberation. Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison at sentencing. Lorincz had claimed self-defense when she fired a single shot with a .380-caliber handgun through her front door on June 2, 2023, killing 35-year-old Ajike “A.J.” Owens.

She told detectives in a videotaped interview that she feared for her life as Owens yelled and pounded on her door.

“I thought I was in imminent danger,” she said in the interview.

The confrontation was the latest in a dispute between Lorincz and Owens over the latter’s children playing in a grassy area near both of their houses. Lorincz said in the interview she had been harassed for most of the three years she lived in the neighborhood.

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