Awhite woman accused of shooting through her door and shot dead an African-American neighbor in Ocala, Florida, she was charged this Monday withinvoluntary manslaughterand aggression.
Susan Lorincz, 58, was arrested earlier this month and formally charged with one count of homicide with a firearm and one count of assault, following the fatal shooting of Ajike Owens, a mother of four children ranging in age from three to 12 years old. , as reported by the agencyThe Associated Press (AP).
State's Attorney William Gladson said his office considered filing a second-degree murder charge, but prosecutors concluded thatthere was insufficient evidence that Lorincz had "hatred, resentment, ill will or bad intention" towards Owens.
"As deplorable as the defendant's actions were in this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove this specific and necessary element of second-degree murder," Gladson said in a statement.
Owens was murdered on June 2 in Ocala, about 133 kilometers north of Orlando.
After the shooting, Lorincz told investigators he had been in trouble for two years over disrespect from neighborhood children, including Owens' children, ages 12, nine, seven and three.
According to an arrest report from the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Lorincz said he had a headache the day of the shooting and that children were running and screaming outside his apartment.
That night, while some children were playing basketball, they accidentally left an iPad, which the woman took. When one of Owens' children went to retrieve it, she threw it, hitting the child and breaking the screen.
Owens crossed the street to talk to her neighbor after learning what happened.
According to the neighbor, there was "a lot of aggression" on both sides, as well as threats, and Owens was ultimately shot with a .380-caliber handgun that went through the door, and she was later pronounced dead at a hospital, according to authorities.
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