Family and attorneys of AJ Owens speak after formal charges filed against her alleged killer

Ajike “AJ” Owens. Submitted photo.

The attorneys for the family of Ajike “AJ” Owens say her surviving loved ones are “extremely disappointed” in the lack of a second-degree murder charge against Susan Lorincz, but they will continue to fight for the highest possible sentence for the manslaughter charge Owens’ alleged killer is facing.

Family liaison Takema Robinson, along with attorneys Anthony Thomas and Benjamin Crump, hosted a press conference Tuesday, one day after State Attorney Bill Gladson announced that Lorincz would be charged with manslaughter rather than the second-degree murder charge the family sought.

Takema Robinson is shown in a Zoom screen shot from a press conference on June 27.

Owens, a Black mother of four, was killed by Lorincz, her white neighbor on June 2, according to her arrest affidavit. Owens was standing outside of Lorincz’s locked door after Lorincz reportedly got into an altercation with Owens’ children, who were playing outside. Lorincz fired a single shot through her door while Owens and her son were standing outside of it, fatally wounding Owens, according to the arrest affidavit.

“We’re still disappointed in our state attorney. However, we want to stay vigilant with the prosecution,” Thomas said. “Susan deserves all 30 years of that 30-year maximum sentence, and that’s what we’re pushing forward with at this moment.”

Gladson said in a statement Monday that while he understood the family’s desire for the charges against Lorincz to be raised to murder, he said there was “insufficient evidence” to do so because she was not of “depraved mind” and did not show any hatred, spite or ill will at the time of the shooting.

Anthony Thomas, attorney representing the Owens family, is seen in a Zoom screen shot during a press conference on June 27.

“The evidence is already there,” said Thomas. “I mean simply read that arrest affidavit. Susan admits to the racism, the hatred—she did have ill will and intent to kill AJ at the time of the murder.”

Owens and Lorincz frequently got into altercations over the course of two years, often over Owens’ children playing in a grassy common area in the Quail Run-area apartment complex, Marion County Sheriff’s Office records show. Multiple neighbors reported hearing Lorincz use racial slurs toward the family and often hearing arguments during their long-time feud, according to the arrest affidavit.

Lorincz purchased a gun after one of their arguments and researched laws pertaining to self-defense and the “Stand Your Ground” statute before the shooting occurred, according to the affidavit.

Ben Crump, attorney representing the Owens family, is seen in a Zoom screen shot from the June 27 press conference.

Attorney Crump, who has worked on a number of high-profile civil rights cases including for the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and Tyre Nichols, said he felt there was a “double standard” present in the filed charges. If the roles were reversed, he said, Owens would have been charged with murder rather than manslaughter.

“That’s why people are so outraged when they think about the fact that a person can shoot somebody through a locked metal door after calling their children racial epithets and not be charged with murder,” Crump said.

Also in response to the charges, the Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, released a statement saying Florida officials have “failed” Owens and her family, and urged the Justice Department to investigate the shooting as a hate crime. Sharpton gave the eulogy at Owens’ funeral on June 12.

“The fact that this woman hurled insults including the N-word at her children and proclaimed, ‘This isn’t the underground railroad, slave,’ should be enough for the Justice Department to investigate this as a federal hate crime,” he said.

While the manslaughter charge was not the outcome many close to the tragedy had hoped for, the team urged everyone to remain faithful and to adamantly continue to fight on Owens’ behalf.

“We’re disappointed in our justice system. Certainly, that gives us no confidence in the entire legal system, but at the same time, just keep this family in your prayers and hope,” Thomas said. “Stay vigilant with this family that there will be justice in the form of a conviction.”