New video shows interrogation of Florida woman accused of fatally shooting neighbor

The Marion County Sheriff's Office released video of detectives questioning Susan Lorincz, the Florida woman accused in the fatal shooting of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a Black mother of four who lived across the street from Lorincz.

The video, released Monday, shows the moment Lorincz, who is white, was arrested after a nearly two-hour interrogation, four days after the fatal incident. After the shooting, Lorincz told detectives she was acting in self-defense when she shot Owens, who was with her 10-year-old son, through the closed door of Lorincz's home on June 2, 2023, according to the video.

“She was saying, 'I'm going to kill you,'” Lorincz told detectives about Owens during questioning.

“There was banging. There was screaming. I thought she was just going to break down the door,” she said. “My heart was pounding and I thought, 'She's really going to kill me.'”

According to detectives, no other witnesses heard Owens shouting threats during the argument. “No one we've interviewed so far has made a statement about her saying she wanted to kill you,” one of the detectives told Lorincz.

Lorincz was charged with first-degree manslaughter in Owens' death and her trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 12. She has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.

On the evening of the incident, Lorincz called 911 at 8:54 p.m. to report Owens' children trespassing on his property in Ocala, Florida, according to records obtained by detectives. After about five minutes on the phone, the 911 dispatcher informed Lorincz that deputies were on their way.

At 9:01 p.m., less than two minutes after hanging up with 911 dispatchers, Lorincz called back to say she had shot Owens, police records show.

Police said Owens went to Lorincz's home to tell her about the dispute involving Owens' children playing near her home.

Detectives then questioned Lorincz about her online search history, according to video of the interrogation, asking if she had looked up self-defense laws in Florida. She told detectives she did so earlier in the day after seeing a post on Facebook.

“I know what you're thinking. Did I look at the law so I could do something? No,” Lorincz told detectives in the video.

During questioning, Lorincz told detectives she had only communicated with Owens two or three times since the mother of four crossed the street and repeatedly denied using racial slurs toward Owens and her children the night of the shooting.

Body camera footage released last July by the Marion County Sheriff's Office showed seven incidents between February 25, 2022 and April 25, 2023, in which Lorincz called sheriff's deputies to complain about children in the neighborhood , including Owens' children, who were playing near her home.

Body camera videos show one child alleging in comments to sheriff's deputies that Lorincz called neighborhood children racial slurs and another who accused Lorincz of being “racist.” Lorincz admitted to calling neighborhood children racial slurs and other derogatory terms in the past, according to a police report.

“I feel like there was some level of fear,” one of the detectives told Lorincz about the night of the shooting. “But from everything I've seen, that doesn't justify shooting through a closed door with a gun, and I think you know that wasn't reasonable.”

“But there were times when I called and the deputies never showed up,” Lorincz responded. The detective responded by saying, “It was two minutes” and she replied, “For me, it wasn’t two minutes.”

“I’m not taking anything away from the way you were treated,” the detective told Lorincz. “But they're still children, and now they don't have a mother to go home to and I think you know that what you did was wrong and I think you know that there were already deputies in road.”

Lorincz initially refused to be arrested after detectives brought a Marion County deputy to transport her to jail, the video shows. After repeatedly trying to persuade her to cooperate, she told detectives, “I don’t care. Kill me,” the video shows.

Before Lorincz's arrest, detectives gave him the opportunity to write a letter to Owens' children, according to the video.

“I am truly sorry for your loss. I never intended to kill your mother. I was terrified that your mother would kill me. I shot out of fear,” Lorincz wrote, according to the detectives in the video.

Attorneys for Lorincz and Owens' family did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment.