OCALA, Fla. — A white woman accused of fatally shooting her black neighbor through a doorway has a history of harassing area children and using racial slurs against them, neighbors said Wednesday.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, was arrested Tuesday on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, negligence, assault and two counts of assault, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. said in a statement. Manslaughter with a firearm is a crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The arrest came days after authorities said Lorincz shot Ajike “AJ” Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, through a locked door in Ocala on Friday night. At least two of Owens’ children witnessed the shooting, according to the sheriff’s office, which was criticized by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump and the grieving family over the pace of the investigation.
It was not immediately clear if Lorincz, who is being held at the Marion County Jail, had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
In interviews with NBC News, neighbors recalled times they said the suspect recorded their children, taunted them with insults, called police and pointed guns at them, just because they were children.
Sharna Mozell, 36, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 12 years, said Lorincz «was a problem with the kids.»
‘Everyone in this neighborhood has fought with this lady over our children’
Phyllis Wills, 33, has lived in the neighborhood for about 15 years. She knew Owens and she knew about Lorincz «because she used to go out all the time and harass our kids,» she said. «Everyone in this neighborhood has fought with this lady over our children.»
She said Lorincz had a problem with kids just being kids.
“Our children used to play in the field there all the time. It is an apartment complex. These are kids who, you know, are going to do things. … Every time they’d go even on the grassy patch over there, she’d say, ‘Get off my lawn, f—- or retards or swear word.’ She was pointing guns at them,» Wills said.
Wills continued, «She would record them every time she went out. She would get in her truck and blast the radio as loud as she could to agitate the kids. She would get in her truck and honk for long periods of time to agitate them.» , too She sped off in her truck here, just crazy stuff.»
She said she never called police about Lorincz, but «he stood in my yard and yelled at him for the way he talks to kids. But I’ve never really had a conversation with her. She wasn’t someone you could talk to.»
‘Mom, Karen called the police today’
Mozell said Lorincz recorded the children playing outside and made fun of them. Her children are 19, 18, 17 and 10 years old. Her 10-year-old daughter used to play outside with other neighborhood kids.
«She used to go out and she used to record them constantly. And she just turns them off while recording the kids, calling their names,» Mozell said.
He added that Lorincz bullied children and was known in the neighborhood as «Karen,» a sarcastic term for a white woman who bullies people of color and has a reputation as a racist. Mozell said her youngest daughter told her Lorincz would record them and then contact authorities just for playing the game.
«‘Mom, Karen called the police today,» Mozell said her daughter would tell her.
She continued: «But the police never do anything… because we are children, we are just playing. I don’t understand, what was their motive or what was the problem?»
‘The lady shot my mom’
The shooting happened around 9:00 p.m. Friday. Lorincz was angry that Owens’ children were playing in a nearby field and «engaged in an argument» with the children, the sheriff’s office said.
During the argument, Lorincz threw a skateboard at Owens’ 10-year-old son and then threw an umbrella at him and his brother, according to the sheriff’s office. Owens then knocked on Lorincz’s door multiple times, and Lorincz fired a shot through the door, the sheriff’s office said.
Owens was struck in the upper chest and died, according to the sheriff’s office.
Wills was making dinner for his children when one of Owens’ sons knocked on his door.
“There was so much noise that my windows were shaking,” she said. “So I said, ‘What the hell?’ And I go and open the door and it’s Isaac, his eldest son, and he’s kind of out of breath. He can barely speak. And he says, ‘The lady shot my mom!'»
«When she said that, I already know who she’s talking about, because she’s the only person here who’s had a fight with the kids,» Wills added.
‘This world is very, very unpleasant’
Crump, who represents the Owens family, and relatives and loved ones of the slain woman have said Lorincz had used racial slurs against Owens’ children before the fatal encounter.
One of the children left an iPad, which the woman took, she said.
A sheriff’s incident report, which is redacted, mentions that deputies were told at the scene that a woman who was described as a suspect at the time had taken an iPad.
Deputies had been responding to a trespassing call that night when they were told there was a shooting, and arrived to find Owens lying on the grass not breathing, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.
Lorincz told investigators that she acted in self-defense «and that Owens had been trying to break down her door before she discharged her firearm,» the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
In an interview Tuesday, Crump said there could be no justification for the killing.
«You should in no way feel that this person knocking on your door could cause you death or imminent bodily harm,» he said. “And if you were afraid, call the police. Why shoot through a metal door?
Mozell’s son, Jamerien Wilson, 18, said he witnessed the aftermath of the shooting.
He said that when he got out, he saw police cars everywhere and then he saw Owens on the ground and someone performing CPR. He said that he did not know at the time what happened and that he did not know that Owens had been shot.
Wilson said he didn’t know Owens well, but knows his 12-year-old son because they played basketball together with other neighborhood kids.
«She never bothered anyone. She was definitely always in the house and doing what she had to do for her kids,» he said.
«You took this woman from her children… Just another lost black soul on earth, you know. It’s just not what we need. Brother, this world is very, very nasty,» Wilson added.
‘The mood has changed’
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Crump said he hopes prosecutors will consider upgrading Lorincz’s charges to murder and also take into account statements from neighbors who said their children have been harassed by the suspect. .
“We are grateful to Sheriff Woods for making the arrest. We do not take it lightly, we do not take it for granted. Because black people getting speedy justice in America is not something that happens all the time,» Crump said.
«Although it bothers us that it took four days, we understand it because…laws like stand your ground can complicate things,» the lawyer added.
Sheriff Billy Woods previously said investigators were legally required to investigate whether Florida’s «stand your ground» law applied before making an arrest.
He said that Owens’ murder was not justified under the self-defense law.
“It was just murder,” Woods said.
Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, sat down with MSNBC on Wednesday and spoke at the press conference. Her grandchildren, who range in age from 3 to 12, have been affected «in many ways» since her mother’s death, she said. Dias noted that both of Owens’ children, including a 9-year-old boy who watched her mother being killed, blame themselves for her death.
“In his soul, in his heart, it’s his fault,” he said, explaining how the boy told his mother what Lorincz allegedly did before the shooting, sparking the confrontation.
Dias added: “Our 12-year-old son blames himself for his mother’s death because he couldn’t save her. He couldn’t give her CPR. His words were: ‘Grandma, Grandma, I couldn’t save her.’
Mozell said the shooting has affected the neighborhood as well. Ocala is a city of about 63,000 about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.
«The mood has changed, the atmosphere has changed here. Nothing is really different, but you could feel it. It’s creepy now because it’s always been quiet. We’re not used to things like that,» he said.
Minyvonne Burke reported from Ocala, Florida, and Antonio Planas from New York City.