White woman who fatally shot black neighbor arrested

OCALA, Florida — A woman accused of fatally shooting her neighbor in Florida last week in a violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2.5-year feud was arrested on Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

Susan Louise Lorincz, a 58-year-old white woman, was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault in the death of Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old black mother of four, Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement.

Authorities came under pressure to arrest and charge Lorincz who fired through her front door and killed Owens during the Friday night shooting, in a case that has put Florida's divisive stand-your-ground law back into the spotlight.

About three dozens of mostly black protesters had gathered outside the Marion County Judicial Center to demand the shooter's arrest in the country's latest flashpoint over race and gun violence.

However, Woods said this was not a stand-your-ground case, but "simply a killing". When interviewed, Lorincz claimed that she acted in self-defense and that Owens had been trying to break down her door before discharging her firearm.

She also claimed that Owens had come after her in the past and had previously attacked her. Through their investigation, including obtaining the statements of eyewitnesses, detectives were able to establish that Lorincz's actions were not justifiable under Florida law, a statement from the sheriff's office said.

The shooting case has put the controversial "stand-your-ground" law back into the spotlight as this law is cited more frequently when a white shooter kills a black victim.

The sheriff's office has not confirmed whether there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.

"We've seen this again and again across this country," said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, adding that "it's really because of lax gun laws and a culture of shoot first".

Ferrell-Zabala said stand-your-ground cases, which she refers to as "shoot first laws" are deemed justifiable five times more frequently when a white shooter kills a black victim.

In 2017, Florida lawmakers updated the state's self-defense statute to shift the burden of proof from a person claiming self-defense to prosecutors. That means authorities have to rule out self-defense before bringing charges.

In fact, stand-your-ground and "castle doctrine" cases — which allow residents to defend themselves either by law or court precedent when threatened — have sparked outrage amid a spate of shootings across the country.

In April, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a white man, shot and injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City after mistakenly showing up at the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings.

Also on Tuesday, a man armed with four handguns killed two people and wounded five others when he fired into a crowd outside a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, police said.

Agencies Via Xinhua