The Constituionally Protected Right To Shoot Thru Doors When Someone Comes A Knockin

[RKBA Stand Yer Ground & Shoot!]

White woman who fatally shot Black neighbor through front door arrested on
manslaughter and other charges

June 7, 2023 / 3:11 AM / CBS/AP

Ocala, Fla. A White woman who fired through her front and killed a Black
neighbor was arrested Tuesday, authorities said, in a case that's put
Florida's divisive "stand your ground law" back in the spotlight. The
shooting sparked widespread anger and protests.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office said Susan Lorincz, 58, was charged
with manslaughter with a firearm and other offenses.

Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, was killed Friday night in a
shooting Sheriff Billy Woods said was the culmination of a 2-and-a-half-
year feud between the neighbors.

They lived in the rolling hills south of Ocala, a north Florida city
that's the heart of the state's horse country.

According to the sheriff's office, evidence showed that, over time,
Lorincz had become angry over Owens' children playing in a field close to
her apartment.


On Friday night, the office said, Lorincz got into an argument with the
children and "was overhead yelling at them by a neighbor."

During the argument, the office continued, Lorincz threw a roller skate at
Owens' 10-year-old son and hit him in a toe. The boy and his 12-year-old
brother then went to speak to Lorincz, and she opened her door and swung
at them with an umbrella. They told their mother what happened and "Owens
approached Lorincz's home, knocked on the door multiple times, and
demanded that Lorincz come outside. Lorincz then fired one shot through
the door, striking Owens in her upper chest.

"At the time she was shot, Owens' 10-year-old son was standing beside
her," the sheriff's office noted.

Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment Friday night
found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital.

When questioned by the sheriff's office, Lorincz claimed she acted in
self-defense and that Owens was trying to break down her door. "Lorincz
also claimed that Owens had come after her in the past and had previously
attacked her," the office continued.

But "detectives were able to establish that Lorincz's actions were not
justifiable under Florida law" and she was arrested, the office said.
susan-lorincz.jpg
Susan Lorincz in mugshot after her arrest on June 6, 2023 Marion County
(Florida) Sheriff's Office

The manslaughter charge Lorincz is facing is punishable by up to 30 years
in prison, the office noted. She's also charged with culpable negligence,
battery, and two counts of assault.

Billy Woods said in a statement that he wants "to thank Ms. Owens' family
for their patience as we conducted the diligent investigation that we were
bound by law to conduct. Ms. Lorincz's fate is now in the hands of the
judicial system which I trust will deliver justice in due course. As I go
to bed tonight, I will be saying a prayer for Ms. Owens' children and the
rest of her family. I'd ask all of you to do the same."
Pressure was mounting

Owens' family members called for the arrest at a news conference Monday.

And at a vigil Monday, Owens' mother, Pamela Dias, said she was seeking
justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.

"My daughter, my grandchildren's mother, was shot and killed with her ...
son standing next to her," Dias said. "She had no weapon. She posed no
imminent threat to anyone."

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who's representing Owens' family, said in
a statement that the shooter had been yelling racial slurs at the children
before the confrontation.

He also represented Trayvon Martin's family in 2012, when the Black
teenager was killed in a case that drew worldwide attention to the state's
stand your ground law.

The sheriff's office hasn't confirmed there were slurs uttered or said
whether race was a factor in the shooting.

About three dozen mostly Black protesters had gathered outside the Marion
County Judicial Center Tuesday to demand that the shooter be arrested in
the country's latest flashpoint over race and gun violence. The chief
prosecutor, State Attorney William Gladson, met with the protesters and
urged patience while the investigation continued.

Woods said Monday detectives were working with the State Attorney's Office
and had to investigate possible self-defense claims before they could move
forward with any possible criminal charges. The sheriff pointed out that
because of the stand your ground law, he couldn't make an arrest unless he
could prove the shooter didn't act in self-defense.

On Tuesday, a stuffed teddy bear and bouquets marked the area near where
Owens was shot. Nearby, children were riding bikes and scooters, and
playing basketball. Protesters chanted "No justice, no peace" and "A.J.
A.J. A.J," using Owens' nickname. They carried signs saying: "Say her name
Ajike Owens" and "It's about us."

Outside, the Rev. Bernard Tuggerson said the Black community in Ocala has
suffered injustices for years. "Marion County is suffering and needs to be
healed completely," he said. "If we don't turn from our wicked ways of the
world, it's going to be an ongoing problem. We want answers."

Lauren Smith, 40, lives across the street from where the shooting
happened. She was on her porch that day and saw one of Owens' young sons
pacing, and yelling, "They shot my mama, they shot my mama."

She ran toward the house, and started chest compressions until a rescue
crew arrived. She said there wasn't an altercation and that Owens didn't
have a weapon.

"She was angry all the time that the children were playing out there,"
Smith said. "She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty." Smith, who
is White, described the neighborhood as family friendly.

The sheriff said that since January 2021, deputies responded at least a
half-dozen calls in connection with what police described as feuding
between Owens and the woman who shot her.

"There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth," the
sheriff said the shooter told investigators. "Whether it be banging on the
doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that
moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door."
"Stand your ground" laws in focus

"I'm absolutely heartbroken," Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told The Associated Press.
She described the fatal shooting as "so senseless."

"We've seen this again and again across this country," she said, adding
that "it's really because of lax gun laws and a culture of shoot first."

Ferrell-Zabala said stand your ground cases, which she refers to as "shoot
first laws," are deemed justifiable five times more frequently when a
White shooter kills a Black victim.

In 2017, Florida lawmakers updated the state's self-defense statute to
shift the burden of proof from a person claiming self-defense to
prosecutors. That means authorities have to rule out self-defense before
bringing charges. Before the change in law, prosecutors could charge
someone with a shooting and then defense attorneys would have to present
an affirmative defense for why their client shouldn't be convicted.

In fact, stand your ground and "castle doctrine" cases - which allow
residents to defend themselves either by law or court precedent when
threatened - have sparked outrage amid a spate of shootings across the
country.

In April, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a White man, shot and injured 16-
year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City
after mistakenly showing up at the wrong house to pick up his younger
siblings. Lester faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal
action; at trial, he may argue that he thought someone was trying to break
into his house, as he told police.

Missouri and Florida are among about 30 states that have stand your ground
laws.

The most well-known examples of the stand your ground argument came up in
the trial of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman, who had a White father and Hispanic mother, told police that
Martin attacked him, forcing him to use his gun in self-defense. He was
allowed to go free, but was arrested about six weeks later after Martin's
parents questioned his version of events and then-Gov. Rick Scott
appointed a special prosecutor.

Before trial, Zimmerman's attorneys chose not to pursue a stand your
ground claim, which could have resulted in the dismissal of murder changes
as well as immunity from prosecution. But during the trial, the law was
essentially used as part of his self-defense argument. Jurors found him
not guilty.