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CNN
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A mother of four was shot dead in Florida after years of feuding with neighbors who complained about the victim’s children playing outside, officials and family lawyers have announced.
Officers responded to a trespassing call Friday night in Marion County, Fla., and found a woman with gunshot wounds, Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference Monday.
Authorities identified the victim as Ajike “AJ” Owens. she was 35 years old.
The sheriff said the shooter, also a woman, “engaged” the Owens children, throwing skates at them and hitting them. Witnesses told police there was an altercation over the children’s electronic tablets before the shooter threw skates at them, according to the sheriff’s office incident report.
After the exchange, one of the children returned home and told her mother, who had gone next door, that she was going to “face the woman,” the sheriff said.
Woods said there was “considerable aggression” from both sides, threats were made, and Owens was eventually shot through a door, according to the perpetrator.
Witnesses told authorities that Ms Owens went to the man’s house and knocked on the door before he was shot, according to the incident report.
Owens was later pronounced dead at a hospital, officials said.
The sheriff added that the woman who shot Owens is cooperating with law enforcement. She was not arrested in this case.
Authorities have not released the name of the shooter, nor have they released any identifying information. But one of her family’s attorneys, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, identified her as a white woman, according to a news release from his office Monday. The incident report also listed the shooter as a 58-year-old white woman.
At a separate press conference held by a lawyer for the Owens family, the victim’s mother said the neighbor who shot her daughter slandered the family, including the children.
According to the victim’s mother, Pamela Diaz, when Owens, who is black, tried to confront her, the neighbor’s door “never opened” and was shot through the door.
“My granddaughter’s mother, my daughter, was shot dead with her 9-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon and did not pose an immediate threat to anyone.” said Diaz.
“What I want is justice,” she added. “Justice for my daughter.”
On Monday night, Crump said on MSNBC’s show that it was “amazing” that no arrests had been made in the case.
“It is foolish of them to try to justify the wrongful killing of this mother of four who was killed in front of her children,” Crump said. “It’s heartbreaking on every level.”
A verified GoFundMe page in support of the Owens family had raised over $30,000 by Monday night.
At a press conference on Monday, authorities urged calm and patience as they worked to investigate the shooting, recover video footage and interview children who witnessed the incident. The sheriff also asked anyone with information to come forward.
While responding to criticism of the investigation and potential arrests, the sheriff referred to the state’s “stand firm” law. The law allows people to respond “armedly with force” if they believe they or someone else is in danger of being seriously harmed by the perpetrator.
“What a lot of people don’t understand is that the law has specific instructions for us in law enforcement,” he said. “The law clearly states that we cannot make an arrest whenever we think, know or believe that it may affect us.”
“What we have to rule out is whether the use of lethal force was justified before arrests were made,” he said.
The sheriff said authorities had received reports from two nearby properties dating back to at least January 2021. These reports included calls from the shooter complaining about the Owens children, sheriff said, saying that “the children were I’m still a child,” he added.
“This is what I want. I wish the shooter didn’t take action himself and called us. I wish Mr. Owens called us. I hope I wouldn’t have been in the situation where I am here today,” he said.
“Pray for those kids. Pray for each one of them,” Woods added. “Their lives have changed.”
The sheriff vowed to Owens’ family and friends that his office would “do everything in its power to bring about justice.”
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