Body camera footage sheds new light on ‘racist’ who shot Black mother of four
Woman charged with manslaughter for shooting and could face 30 years in prison
New body camera footage has shed further light on a June incident in which a Florida woman shot and killed a mother of four as one of her children looked over a property dispute.
The footage, released on Monday, shows previous confrontations and police calls relating to Susan Lorincz, a white woman charged with manslaughter for shooting Ajike Owens, who is Black, in Ocala, Florida.
The clips from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office show Ms Lorincz’s frequent calls to police in the months leading up to the 2 June shooting.
In one 25 April incident, she claimed Owens threw a “no trespassing” sign at her.
"I called because the woman across the street hit me with a sign," Ms Lorincz says in the video.
Owens, meanwhile, said she moved the sign but didn’t hit the woman.
"I literally went and picked the sign up and as I walked off I threw the sign. I said I can go and buy a sign too, it still doesn’t mean anything," Owens tells deputies in video.
In another section of the video, a child says Ms Lorincz was a “racist” who called neighbourhood children the n-word. The woman admitted to police she had used racial slurs against children in the area in the past, according to a police report.
According to a June arrest report, Ms Lorincz frequently complained about Ms Owens’s children playing on a common grassy area in front of the woman’s home, claiming it was private property, even though she was renting there.
Other body camera footage released in the case shows a police deputy referring to Ms Lorincz as a “psycho” and Owens warning officers the woman might have mental health issues.
On the night of the shooting, some of Owens’s children were playing in front of the home of Ms Lorincz, an insurance agent.
The woman allegedly came out of her house and yelled, “Get away from my house, you Black slave,” and threw a pair of roller skates at the children.
According to the Owens family, as the children fled, one dropped an iPad, which the woman took.
Ms Owens later walked over to the woman’s home with one of her children, and Ms Lorincz allegedly shot the mother through the door, firing a single round.
Ms Lorincz, who has been charged with first-degree manslaughter, told police that Owens was pounding on the door and “everything started shaking and she thought the door was going to come off," causing the woman to think, “‘Oh my god, she’s really going to kill me this time.’" The woman also told police she bought the pistol used in the shooting for protection after a disagreement with Owens.
When contacted by The Independent, Ms Lorincz’s attorney offered no comment.
The accused will be arraigned on 11 July.