Ajike “AJ” Owens; her family and friends at a Monday vigil; and the Florida home where she was fatally shot (YouTube screenshots)
A Black 35-year-old single mother of four was shot dead in front of her 9-year-old son by her white neighbor in Florida last week in what local authorities say was the violent culmination of a multi-year feud amid allegations that the shooter was motivated by racial animus.
The death of Ajike “AJ” Owens, who was allegedly standing on her neighbor’s porch after knocking when she was fatally shot through the other woman’s front door, has led to calls for the shooter’s arrest and reignited the controversy surrounding Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
According to Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, deputies at about 9 p.m. on Friday, June 2 responded to a call regarding alleged trespassing at an apartment complex located in the 1600 block of SW 108th Lane in Ocala, about 70 miles northwest of Orlando. While en route to the address, deputies learned that there had been shots fired and upon arriving at the scene they located an adult female victim — later identified as Owens — suffering from a gunshot wound and immediately began rendering aid until medics could reach the area. Unfortunately, she succumbed to her wound and was pronounced dead.
Prior to the shooting, the children of the victim were playing in a field near their home when the shooter — who has not been charged, arrested, or identified — yelled at them to “get off her land” and called them “racial slurs,” attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Owens’ family said in a press release.
“The children left but accidentally left an iPad behind, which [the neighbor] took. When one of the children went to her residence to retrieve it, she threw [the iPad], hitting the boy and cracking the screen,” the release states. “After AJ’s children informed her of what happened, she walked across the street with her kids to speak with the woman. She knocked on the door, and at that point, the woman allegedly shot through the door, hitting AJ, who later died from her injuries.”
