White woman claims self-defence in fatal shooting of Black neighbour
OCALA, Florida — Authorities came under intense pressure Tuesday to arrest and charge a white woman who killed a Black neighbour on her front doorstep in a case that has put Florida’s divisive stand-your-ground law back into the spotlight.
About three dozen mostly Black protesters gathered outside Marion County Judicial Center to demand that the shooter be arrested in the U.S.’s latest flashpoint over race and gun violence.
State Attorney William Gladson, the chief prosecutor, met the protesters outside his office in the judicial building and urged patience while the investigation continues.
Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, was killed in the Friday night shooting that Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said was the culmination of a 2 1/2year feud between neighbours. The women lived in a neighbourhood in north Florida, known as the state’s horse country.
On Tuesday, a stuffed teddy bear and bouquets of flowers marked the area near where Owens was shot. Nearby, children rode bikes and scooters, and played basketball. Protesters chanted “No justice, no peace” and “A.J. A.J. A.J” using Owens’ nickname. They carried signs saying: “Say her name Ajike Owens” and “It’s about us.”
Outside, the Rev. Bernard Tuggerson said the Black community in Ocala has suffered injustices for years and Tuesday’s protest reflected that. “Marion County is suffering and needs to be healed completely,” he said. “If we don’t turn from our wicked ways of the world, it’s going to be an ongoing problem. We want answers.”
Gladson said: “If we are going to make a case we need as much time and as much evidence as possible. I don’t want to compromise any criminal investigation and I’m not going to do that.”
The sheriff said Owens was shot moments after going to the apartment of her neighbour, who had yelled at Owens’ children as they played in a nearby lot. He said a neighbour had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of the children.
Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital in Ocala.
Before the confrontation, the shooter had been yelling racial slurs at the children, according to civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who is representing Owens’ family — and represented Trayvon Martin’s family in 2012. The sheriff’s office hasn’t confirmed whether race was a factor in the shooting.
Lauren Smith, 40, lives across the street from where the shooting happened. She was on her porch that day and saw one of Owens’ young sons pacing and yelling: “They shot my mama, they shot my mama.”
She ran toward the house and started chest compressions until a rescue crew arrived. She said there wasn’t an altercation and that Owens didn’t have a weapon.
“She was angry all the time that the children were playing out there,” Smith said. “She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty.” Smith, who is white, said the neighbourhood is “family friendly” and the fact that the shooter is claiming self-defence is “outrageous.”
“I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands,” the sheriff said Monday. “I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today.”
In 2017, Florida politicians updated the state’s self-defence statute to shift the burden of proof from a person claiming self-defence to prosecutors. That means authorities have to rule out self-defence before bringing charges.
Stand your ground and “castle doctrine” cases allow residents to defend themselves either by law or court precedent when threatened.