Photo:FACEBOOK; MARION COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
FACEBOOK; MARION COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
On Wednesday’s episode ofThe View,Ajike Owens’ mother Pamela Dias said that her 9-year-old and 12-year-old grandsons are blaming themselves for their mother’s death after neighbor Susan Lorincz shot and killed her on June 2 through her door.
“She called him racial slurs, said ‘this is not the Underground Railroad, you slaves,'” Dias said on the show.
“She was met with a bullet through a locked metal door with her 9-year-old son standing next to her,” Dias revealed.
Owens’ 12-year-old son called 911, but medics were unable to save his mom. Dias said it has been an “emotional rollercoaster,” and the kids are distraught thinking back to how they could have changed the situation.
“The 9 year old feels as if he hadn’t left his tablet, his mother would still be here,” Dias explained. “The 12 year old, he couldn’t do anything to save her.”
Dias said the 12 year old has begun trauma therapy, and she is working on finding counseling for the second oldest child. Owens' toddler, although unaware of where his mom went, is “crying” and irritable.
When asked how she feels about the influx in shooting deaths — particularly of people of color — Dias said “the world is just full of so much hate now.”
“There’s no regard for human life, it just is reckless,” Dias added. “The gun laws are out of control. It’s too much accessibility to guns. People’s natural instinct is to shoot first rather than to talk, you know, use their minds, use their words, no regard for life anymore, and unfortunately, the laws in the state of Florida allow for this shoot first mentality.”
Dias claims her daughter went to the neighbor’s apartment because Lorincz told the 9-year-old boy to bring his mother over.
“She created this situation, she wanted it to happen,” Dias said onThe View.
“Just screaming, yelling, just being absolutely obnoxious,” she said, according to the 911 tape. “I went and threw the roller skate over to the other side, the kid says he’s going to beat me up for that, and he’s mouthing off to me. I feel threatened in my own home.”
Asked if he was still out there, Lorincz responded: “There are several kids out there right now,” she said. “I’m fearing for my life. I’m very scared.”
Lorincz told the dispatcher the kids lived across the street and responded “No” when asked if weapons were involved.
When the Black mother of four knocked on Lorincz’s apartment, she was shot through the door.
Ajike Shantrell Owens/Faebook
When police arrived on scene following multiple calls around 9 p.m. on June 2, they discovered Owens’ body in front of Lorincz’s apartment, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at anews conference.
Lorincz is now charged with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault in the death of Owens. According toCBS, she was appointed a public defender and has pleaded not guilty.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’sfree True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
According to authorities, the investigation began immediately, and it became apparent to investigators that Owens’ children often played in a field near Lorincz’s home and she had grown angry at them over the years.
Police said that, according to their investigation, on the evening of the shooting, Lorincz allegedly got in an argument with the children and threw a roller skate at Owens’ son, striking him in the toe, and later swung an umbrella at another son.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Lorincz claimed that she acted in self-defense, according to authorities, and that Owens tried to break down her door prior to the shooting.
Police later spoke to neighbors who reported that Lorincz was constantly harassing the children for playing near her home.
In an interview with police, Lorincz admitted to “having used the n-word toward children out of anger in the past and also to calling children other derogatory terms,” according to the affidavit.
Police determined that “Lorincz’s actions were not justifiable under Florida law,” the sheriff’s office said.
Dias toldThe Viewhosts that the saddest part of it all, is that her grandchildren no longer have their mother.
“They’ll never feel their mother’s arms, their mother’s kisses, their mother’s hugs,” Dias said on the show.
AGoFundMe campaignhas been created to for Owens' children.
source: people.com
