Florida officials have chosen not to pursue murder charges against the White woman who was charged with manslaughter after murdering a Black woman in what she felt was “stand your ground.”
Citing “insufficient evidence,” State Attorney Bill Gladson said in a news statement released Monday that the state would charge Susan Lorincz with one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault.
Lorincz, a 58-year-old White woman, has been accused of gunning down her neighbor, Ajike Owens, a Black woman, after the latter knocked on her door.
Detectives say Lorincz grew angry after several children, which included some of Owens’, were playing near her residence.
Before Owens was killed, her family told CNN that Lorincz harassed Owens and her children and called them racial slurs. One of Owens’ sons witnessed the shooting
Lorincz faces 30 years in prison if convicted on the charges.
Meanwhile, Gladson said his office “carefully examined the viability of both second-degree murder and manslaughter with a firearm, both first-degree felonies.”
To charge Lorincz with murder would mean the state would have to prove that Lorincz had a “depraved mind” at the time of the shooting, Gladson added.
“As deplorable as the defendant’s actions were in this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove this specific and required element of second-degree murder,” the statement read. “While some may not agree with that decision, I can assure you that the decision was thoughtful and made without consideration of any factors other than the specific facts of this terrible crime.”
He added that his office “will do all it can to seek justice for Ms. Owens and her family.”
Following the fatal shooting, Lorincz told police she did not mean to shoot Owens and was frightened for her own life, police documents show. The documents further reveal that she admitted to using racial slurs against children in her neighborhood in the past.
