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Susan Lorincz, the 60-year-old Florida woman who fatally shot her Black neighbor, Ajike "AJ" Owens, has been sentenced.
On Monday (November 26), Marion County Circuit Court Judge Robert Hodges sentenced Lorincz to 25 years in prison in connection to the June 2023 shooting of Owens, per NBC News.
Hodges said Lorincz's actions were "completely unnecessary" and caused "significant harm" to Owens and her family.
"I find that the shooting was completely unnecessary," the judge said. "In this case, Ms. Lorincz was behind the door. The door was locked."
Lorincz shot Owens through a closed door of her home last year after she knocked on the door, according to the victim's attorneys. Before the fatal incident unfolded, investigators said Lorincz had become angry at Owens' children, who were playing near her home. Owens' family said Lorincz harassed the children and called them racial slurs before the mother's killing.
The woman claimed she didn't mean to shoot Owens and that she was frightened for her life. Lorincz wasn't immediately arrested as the sheriff's office investigated whether the shooting was justifiable under Florida's stand-your-ground law. She was ultimately arrested on June 6, 2023. State Attorney Bill Gladson announced later that month that Lorincz would not be facing murder charges in Owens' shooting death due to the "insufficient evidence."
In August, an all-white, six-person jury found Lorincz guilty of manslaughter.
During her court appearance on Monday, Lorincz said she regrets opening fire.
"I am so sorry. I never intended to kill her," she told the court. "I am just profoundly sad. Not only did a mother die but a daughter, a sister, I think of your family's loss."
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