Sheriff Billy Woods announced at a news conference Monday that police officers were alerted Friday night about a trespassing complaint at a home in Ocala, about 70 miles northwest of Orlando. When officers arrived there, they found Ajike Owens seriously injured. The 35-year-old mother of four was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died of her gunshot wounds.
It was not the first time that the police had been called to settle an argument between neighbors. According to Woods, officers have responded at least six times since January 2021 to an argument between Owens and the neighbor who eventually shot her.
The suspected perpetrator has not yet been arrested or identified. Woods told journalists that self-defense will be investigated before any criminal charges can be taken.
For the well-known civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, however, it is clear that this was not the case. He talks about an “unjustified murder”. According to him, the children were playing outside when the neighbor started cursing and using racist language at the children. They then walked away, after which one of them left an iPad behind. The neighbor took it home. When the boy later came to pick it up, she threw the iPad at the boy, breaking the screen. When the mother then came to get a story, the woman shot her through the door.
Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said at a wake for her daughter Monday afternoon that she is seeking justice for her grandchildren. “My daughter, the mother of my grandchildren, was shot dead with her 9-year-old son standing next to her,” Dias said. “She didn’t have a gun with her. She was not an immediate threat to anyone.”