In Florida last week, a white neighbor fatally shot a Black 35-year-old single mother of four in front of her 9-year-old son in what local authorities believe was the brutal culmination of a multi-year quarrel. There were claims that the shooter was driven by racial animus.
Calls for the shooter’s arrest have been made in response to the death of Ajike “AJ” Owens, who was apparently standing on her neighbor’s porch after knocking when she was tragically shot through the other woman’s front door. This has renewed the debate over Florida’s “stand your ground” rule.
Sheriff Billy Woods of Marion County claims that deputies arrived there at 9 p.m. and Responded to a complaint concerning possible trespassing at an apartment complex in Ocala, roughly 70 miles northwest of Orlando, in the 1600 block of SW 108th Lane, on Friday, June 2. Deputies were informed that shots had been fired while on approach to the address. When they arrived at the site, they discovered an adult female victim suffering from a gunshot wound; she was later identified as Owens. Deputies started providing first aid to Owens until emergency personnel could arrive. Sadly, she died from her wound and was declared dead.
The shooter, who has not been charged, arrested, or identified, yelled at the victim’s children before the shooting to “get off her land” and called them “racial slurs,” according to attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Owens’ family. The children were playing in a field close to their home at the time.
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The iPad was mistakenly left behind by the kids when they departed, and the neighbor snatched it. She tossed [the iPad] when one of the kids went to her house to get it, hitting the boy and shattering the screen, according to the press statement. “After AJ’s kids told her what had happened, she crossed the street with them to talk to the woman. When she knocked on the door, the woman allegedly opened fire, wounding AJ, who eventually died as a result of her wounds.
Sheriff Woods stated at a press conference on Monday that authorities had not yet determined if the neighbor stole the kids’ iPad or whether she later hurled and shattered it. He did, however, mention that the neighbor had earlier that day thrown a pair of skates at the kids that may have struck one of them and probably increased tension between Owens and the shooter.
“I would be furious if someone threw something at my child. What kind of parent wouldn’t? Whether they tossed it at them on purpose or not, who wouldn’t be angry at that?”, said Sheriff Woods. “I wish our shooter had called us rather than forcing us to act independently. In the hopes that we would never have reached this stage, I wished Mrs. Owens had phoned us.
When Owens approached the neighbor on her porch, the sheriff claimed that there was “a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth, whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls, and threats being made.”
He said, “And that’s when Mrs. Owens was shot through the door.
Woods advised the public to be patient as investigators work to piece together the events that led up to the sad encounter, emphasizing that Owens’ own children will be crucial to the investigation.
“We’re not heartless jerks, and we’re not going to question kids the night they might have seen their mother die. We will wait, he declared. I’m here to reassure the family and friends that my office will do everything possible to bring justice. “We have to rely on professionals and expert counselors to sit down with them,” he said.
The sheriff also cited Florida’s stand-your-ground statute, which, according to him, bars arrests until specifics surrounding the incident can be established. The law permits people to protect themselves with lethal force without making any attempt to evacuate if they feel their lives are in immediate danger.
“That law has specific instructions for us and law enforcement, and anytime that we think, perceive, or believe that might come into play, we cannot make an arrest,” Woods said. “The law expressly provides for that, and before we can even make the arrest, we must rule out whether the use of lethal force was justified or not.”
At a Monday vigil, Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, asserted that the neighbor, who she claimed frequently called her grandchildren the “n-word” and “slaves,” could not have known that shooting Owens would endanger her life.
“The mother, who was also her children’s guardian, was curious as to why this had occurred. a closed door with a lock. The door never did open,” claimed Dias. “My daughter, the mother of my grandchildren, was shot and killed while her 9-year-old son stood nearby. She was unarmed. She didn’t represent a danger to anyone right away.
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