A white woman in Florida was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting her neighbor, a Black mother of four, in a case that sparked outrage and yet another national reckoning over gun violence and racism.
A jury convicted Susan Lorincz, 60, of manslaughter in August for killing Ajike Owens outside of her home in Ocala on June 2, 2023. Owens, who went by the name A.J., was 35. Ocala is a small city located about 80 miles northwest of Orlando.
Lorincz faced a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment on the charges originally brought against her after the shooting — one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault — Bill Gladson, the state attorney for Florida’s fifth judicial district, announced later in June that year. In Florida, the lead prosecutor in each district is called a state attorney.
On Monday, Judge Robert Hodges said Lorincz had ample time to call law enforcement and that there was no real risk that Owens was trying to break into her home. “The shooting was based, I find, more in anger than in fear,” Hodges said before the sentencing.