Ajike “AJ” Owens confronted a neighbor after one of her children told her the neighbor threw a pair of skates at them. The mother was shot through a closed door and was later pronounced dead.
A Black single mother of four was shot and killed in Florida by her white neighbor through a closed door after a confrontation about a dispute between the neighbor and her children.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of trespassing on Friday, when they arrived on the scene they found Ajike “AJ” Owens suffering from a gunshot wound, according to Sheriff Billy Woods. They took life-saving measures but Owens was later pronounced dead, the sheriff said in a press conference Monday.
“She had a smile that would light up the room. But most of all, she was known for how much she loved and absolutely lived for her four children,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, wrote on her GoFundMe page. “To say she loved her children unconditionally is an understatement. She was a single mother whose life centered around her children.”
Earlier that evening, Owens’ children were playing outside next to their apartment complex when the unidentified 58-year-old female neighbor allegedly started yelling at them for being on her property and reportedly began calling them racial slurs, according to a press release from the family’s attorney.
After the interaction, the kids left the area but one forgot their iPad, which the neighbor allegedly took, the attorneys said. When the child went to get it back she allegedly threw a pair of skates at the child, said Sheriff Woods.
Once Owens was told by her children what happened, she went to the neighbor's house to speak to her, the sheriff said.
After a confrontation, during which the door remained closed, the neighbor shot through the door, hitting and killing Owens while her eldest son stood next to her, the attorneys said.
No arrest has been made in her killing, due to the “stand your ground law” in Florida, according to Sheriff Woods.
The “stand your ground law” recently came under fire after the shooting of 17-year-old Ralph Yarl who mistakenly rang the wrong doorbell when attempting to pick up his younger siblings in Missouri. His shooter was also not immediately arrested and once he was, he was released shortly after pending further investigation.
“Anytime that we think or perceive or believe that that [law] might come into play, we cannot make an arrest,” Sheriff Woods said as to why no arrest in Owens' death had been made yet. “We have to rule out whether this deadly force was justified or not before we can even make an arrest.”
Dias wrote on the fundraising page the dangers of how this law protects people that use deadly force as self-defense, saying, “this is yet another instance where the law could potentially come into play and erode justice.”
Sheriff Woods said during the press conference Monday that they have interviewed the neighbor and she is cooperating but wouldn’t comment further on her interviews.
“I wish our shooter would’ve called us instead of taking actions into her own hands. I wish Ms. Owens would have called us,” said Sheriff Woods.
The sheriff also said that this confrontation wasn’t the first dispute between the neighbors. According to his records, there have been multiple 911 calls from both sides since 2021, usually pertaining to the children.
The children are a pivotal piece to the case, the sheriff said, but have not been interviewed yet due to the traumatic death of their mother they witnessed. The sheriff said they will be bringing in specialists to interview the children to understand more about what happened.
Dias told MSNBC that she will be relocating to Florida to care for the children so they can continue to live the lives their mother always wanted for them.
