A woman who tormented her neighbours’ children with racist slurs and then shot dead a mother when she complained faces up to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 60, fired a bullet from her .380 Remington pistol at Ajike Owens, 35, who was standing with her 12-year-old son in the doorway of their home in Ocala, Florida, in June last year.
Lorincz told police he was “in fear of his life” when he fired through a closed door at the unarmed mother of four, and that the state’s “self-defense” law allowed him to fire his Remington .380 pistol at the woman.
It took police four days to arrest Lorincz as they proved his allegations, but Owen’s mother, Pamela Dias, said she had found “some peace” after a jury rejected his claim of self-defense on Friday.
“My heart is a little lighter and we are now on the path to true healing,” Dias added.
Susan Lorincz, 60, faces up to 30 years in prison for manslaughter after being convicted of shooting dead Ajike Owens, 35, when the neighbor came to her door in June last year.
Owens went to Lorincz’s home to confront her about allegations that she threw a skateboard at one of her children earlier in the day and smashed a tablet, before brandishing an umbrella.
Owens went to Lorincz’s home on June 2 last year to confront her about allegations she had thrown a skateboard at one of her children earlier that day and smashed a tablet, before brandishing an umbrella.
Lorincz, an insurance agent, told police during her interview that Owens’ sons had been “trespassing” on her property and that one had threatened to “beat her up.”
But neighbours revealed she “had a problem with the children” and would film them before taunting them with insults and waving guns in their direction.
Phyllis Wills, 33, told NBC that Lorincz was “harassing” her children, adding: “Everyone in this neighborhood has fought with this lady over our children.”
Other parents said they called her “Karen” after she repeatedly filmed their children and called police on them for their antics.
“It’s an apartment complex. It’s kids who, you know, are going to do things,” Willis said.
“Every time they would go to that patch of grass over there, she would say, ‘Get off my lawn, you morons or retards or blacks.’ She would point guns at them.”
When interviewed by police, one of Owens’ sons claimed that Lorincz had previously called them “B******” and “jack****s” and also told them, “This ain’t the Underground Railroad, slave.”
Lorincz claimed he feared for his life and that Florida’s self-defense law allowed him to fire his Remington .380 pistol through the locked front door toward the woman.
The former insurance agent wore a suicide vest during court appearances last year.
The women lived across the street from each other and Lorincz had called 911 at 8:54 p.m. on June 2 to complain that the children were invading her home and screaming outside her door.
At top right, a bullet hole is seen plugged in the front door of Lorincz’s home after she fired her Remington 380 pistol, killing Owens, who was knocking on the door.
Owens reportedly told her 12-year-old son to call 911 after the bullet hit her, and the young man told officers he was “just knocking on the door.” She was rushed to the hospital, where she later died.
Lorincz called 911 after the shooting to file a trespassing complaint, before mentioning that he had shot a woman at her door.
“I never intended to kill,” she later told police. “I was shaking. I was very distressed at the time. I felt like I was in mortal danger.”
But Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods dismissed her version of events as “nonsense,” saying video captured by security cameras on neighboring properties “was the final nail in the coffin.”
Woods said Owens’ children’s accounts were supported by surveillance footage seen by police.
“There are things that people say that we can prove are a yellow flag, a damn flag, and we say no, that’s wrong,” he told WFTV.
“She couldn’t see through the door, she couldn’t see the person. So her comments that she feared for her life… it’s just chilling.”
Investigators found two surveillance cameras inside Lorincz’s home, one facing the yard and the other attached to the sliding door.
He explained that the cameras were working but only recorded movement and “at night sometimes they don’t capture anything.”
The cameras can be accessed via his phone and after initially refusing to give the password, Lorincz handed over the phone.
Officers were unable to view any footage after 8:40 p.m. on the night of the incident, but Lorincz denied deleting any footage.
It later emerged that she had been in possession of his phone for two hours after placing it inside a police car, and footage showed her accessing it briefly, but investigators were unable to determine what she had done with it.
Relatives had asked that the charge of manslaughter be upgraded to murder, but one of them exclaimed: “Oh, God. Thank you, Jesus,” as the jury returned its verdict on Friday.
Florida law allows the use of deadly force if a person “reasonably believes” his or her life is in imminent danger.
But the jury decided Lorincz had no reason to believe that when he shot the unarmed mother who was standing outside the locked front door.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said Lorincz’s version of events was nonsense because Owens’ children’s accounts matched surveillance footage from a neighbor’s home.
An arrest affidavit revealed that Lorincz told 911 that “a woman tried to break down his door while screaming,” so he shot her.
“Not only was Susan Lorincz on trial today, but so was self-defense and how that is defined,” attorney Anthony D. Thomas said afterward.
‘I think we’ve taken another step forward with case law and the definition of what ‘defending oneself’ really means.
“No, you cannot claim that you fear for your life. No, you cannot provoke the police by telling them over the phone that you fear for your life to ensure that they get there quickly.”
Dias said it had been “a long journey to get to this day, to get to this verdict.”
“She set out to cause harm. She set out to kill. That’s exactly what she did,” Dias added.
“She has no respect for any form of human life.”
Judge Robert Hodges told Lorincz she would remain held in the Marion County Jail without bail until her sentencing at a later date.
