The Florida mother’s relatives spoke publicly after an arrest that came four days after she was shot through a neighbor’s door.
OCALA, Fla. — The family of Ajike “A.J.” Owens said they were relieved but still grieving after authorities arrested the neighbor who fatally shot the 35-year-old mother of four through a closed front door, ending a four-day wait that had intensified calls for accountability.
Owens was killed June 2, 2023, after going to the home of Susan Lorincz following a dispute involving Owens’ children. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said Lorincz fired through her front door, striking Owens. Owens was taken to a hospital and died. One of her sons was near his mother when she was shot.
Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, emerged as one of the family’s most visible voices after the killing. She described relief when Lorincz was arrested but said the delay had added to the family’s pain. Dias said her daughter had been unarmed and posed no imminent threat when she went to Lorincz’s home.
The shooting followed an ongoing neighborhood conflict centered on children playing near Lorincz’s home. Investigators said Lorincz had repeatedly complained about neighborhood children. On the day Owens died, her children told her about another confrontation with Lorincz, prompting Owens to go to the residence.
Lorincz told investigators that she feared Owens and acted in self-defense. Authorities spent several days examining that claim in light of Florida’s self-defense laws before arresting her June 6, 2023. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said investigators did not believe the shooting was justified.
The case quickly drew national attention, in part because Owens was Black and Lorincz is white and because of questions surrounding Florida’s stand-your-ground law. The family, joined by civil rights advocates, pressed prosecutors to hold Lorincz accountable while emphasizing that Owens had gone to the home because of what her children said had happened.
Prosecutors ultimately charged Lorincz with manslaughter rather than second-degree murder, saying the available evidence did not support the more serious charge. Lorincz pleaded not guilty and maintained that she had fired because she feared for her safety.
A jury rejected that self-defense argument in August 2024 and found Lorincz guilty of manslaughter with a firearm. The verdict marked a major turning point for Owens’ family, which had spent more than a year attending court proceedings and speaking publicly about the effect of the killing on Owens’ four children.
In November 2024, Circuit Judge Robert Hodges sentenced Lorincz to 25 years in prison. Hodges said the shooting was unnecessary and concluded that Lorincz had acted more from anger than fear. She had faced a maximum sentence of 30 years.
For Owens’ family, the conviction and sentence closed the criminal trial but did not erase the loss that first brought them before cameras in June 2023. Dias has said her daughter’s children continue to live with the consequences of losing their mother, while Lorincz remains imprisoned for the manslaughter conviction.
Author note: Last updated October 15, 2026.