A newly released interrogation video shows Susan Lorincz, a Florida resident, telling police she heard her neighbor threaten to kill her before she was arrested for fatally shooting the neighbor through a closed door during a dispute about their children playing outside.
Susan Lorincz, a 58-year-old white woman, faces charges of manslaughter with a firearm and assault for the June 2, 2023, shooting of her Black neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens. Investigators report that Lorincz became enraged because Owens’ children, along with other neighborhood kids, were playing near her home.
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The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released the footage on Monday. Throughout the nearly two-hour interrogation, Lorincz repeatedly told detectives that she feared for her life during the incident and claimed Owens had threatened her, saying, “I’m going to kill you.”
“I just remember being scared that she was banging and screaming, and I remember hearing her say, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Lorincz recounted to police, echoing statements from the case affidavit.
“I was scared for my life,” Lorincz added. “I was scared she would come in that door. I’m sorry. That’s how I felt. I can’t change how I felt. I mean, I was scared to death.”
Detectives informed Lorincz that none of the witnesses they interviewed heard Owens make any threats to kill her.
One detective is heard telling Lorincz, “These people said that she was telling you to come outside. She wanted to talk to you about something, so she called you outside.”
Prior to the shooting, Owens’ family told CNN that Lorincz had mocked Owens and her children and used racist slurs in their presence. An arrest affidavit states that Lorincz admitted to using racial slurs against neighborhood children in the past.
When asked if she was familiar with Florida’s self-defense and “stand your ground” laws, Lorincz confirmed that she was, saying she had researched them earlier that day after seeing a post on Facebook.
“You may think I looked at the rules to find a way to do something. No,” Lorincz told the police.
Detectives challenged Lorincz’s account, questioning the reasonableness of her actions on the day of the shooting.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it’s not good enough for you to justify shooting through a locked door with a gun, OK?” a detective asked. “Do you know that what you did wasn’t reasonable?” noting that the fatal shot was fired just two minutes after Lorincz ended a 911 call requesting help.
“I thought it was much longer,” Lorincz responded.
At the end of the interrogation, Lorincz was given the opportunity to write a note to Owens’ children. She complied while waiting for the officers to return.
When the deputies came to take Lorincz to jail, the footage shows her initially resisting arrest, repeatedly saying, “I can’t do this” and “I don’t care. Kill me!” Ultimately, she stood up and was handcuffed.
Source: CNN
