Black mother of four fatally shot amidst racial dispute with neighbor
A Black mother of four, Ajike “AJ” Owens, was shot and killed through a closed door in Florida following a dispute with her white neighbor, who allegedly bombarded her children with racial slurs.
The incident took place in Ocala, where Owens had an ongoing conflict with her neighbor over her children crossing onto her neighbor’s property, as reported by local officials.
While the police did not disclose the neighbor’s name, CNN referred to an incident report identifying her as a 58-year-old white woman.
According to accounts from family members and witnesses, Owens knocked on her neighbor’s door on Friday to retrieve an iPad that her children had left behind.
It was during this encounter that she was shot from the other side of the door.
Tragically, Owens was accompanied by her nine-year-old son when the incident unfolded, further traumatizing the family.
Following the shooting, Owens was rushed to the hospital but was later pronounced dead, as confirmed by the authorities.
The Marion County sheriff, Billy Woods, held a news conference on Monday, stating that law enforcement responded to a call regarding trespassing and discovered a woman with a gunshot wound.
As of now, no arrests have been made in connection with the case, according to Ben Crump, one of the attorneys representing the family, who denounced the killing as “appalling.”
Speaking with MSNBC, Crump expressed his dismay, saying, “It is asinine when they try to justify this unjustifiable killing of this mother of four who was killed in front of her children. It is heartbreaking on every level.”
Sheriff Woods acknowledged that his office is investigating the role of Florida’s “stand your ground” laws in the shooting.
This law permits individuals to use lethal force if they believe their life or the life of someone else is in imminent danger.
Woods explained the legal constraints surrounding the arrest, saying, “Any time that we think or perceive or believe that [stand your ground] might come into play, we cannot make an arrest. The law specifically says that. And what we have to rule out is whether this deadly force was justified or not before we can even make the arrest.”
The sheriff revealed that an ongoing neighborhood feud existed between the two families, and the police had received approximately six calls related to the dispute since January 2021.
During a news conference organized by Owens’s family attorneys on Monday, the victim’s mother, Pamela Dias, disclosed that the neighbor accused of shooting her daughter had directed racial slurs towards the family, including the children.
Dias emphasized that Owens was unarmed and posed no immediate threat when she approached her neighbor’s door.
Shockingly, Owens was shot through the closed door, leaving her nine-year-old son standing by her side.
“I am pleading for justice,” Dias expressed tearfully. “Justice for my daughter.”
In an effort to cover Owens’s funeral expenses and support her children’s education, the family initiated a GoFundMe campaign. Surpassing the initial $25,000 target, the page has already raised over $42,000.
According to the family, the incident unfolded when Owens’s children were playing in a field near an Ocala apartment complex.
Allegedly, the 58-year-old white woman began shouting racial slurs at them. While the children left the scene, they accidentally left an iPad behind, which the woman confiscated.
One of the children later returned to retrieve the device, resulting in the woman hurling it at the boy, causing the screen to crack.
After being informed about the incident by her children, Owens walked across the street accompanied by her kids to address the matter with the neighbor.
Knocking on the door, she was tragically shot through it, instantly ending her life and leaving her family devastated