Latest / NO FILTER / Argument with Children Turns Deadly_ The Shocking Case of Ajike Owens [True Crime Documentary]

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Argument with Children Turns Deadly_ The Shocking Case of Ajike Owens [True Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

0:00
Speaker 1: Susan Lawrence was the neighbor that no one liked. She
0:03
Speaker 1: complained about noise, She yelled and cursed at the neighborhood children.
0:08
Speaker 1: She had no trespassing signs placed on the open green
0:11
Speaker 1: space outside her home where the kids liked to play.
0:15
Speaker 1: Susan called the Sheriff's office on her neighbors frequently. Then
0:20
Speaker 1: one summer night, tensions in the neighborhood boiled over. The
0:23
Speaker 1: Sheriff's office was called out again, but this time before
0:27
Speaker 1: they could reach the house, a gunshot rang out and
0:32
Speaker 1: a mother of four was dead. Hi there, I'm Kevin,
0:41
Speaker 1: and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case has made
0:45
Speaker 1: headlines internationally, and that's not surprising. What is shocking is
0:49
Speaker 1: how a neighborly dispute could grow so out of control,
0:53
Speaker 1: and how a self defense law could potentially justify the
0:57
Speaker 1: shooting of a mother standing up for her children. Let's
1:02
Speaker 1: take a look. Southwest one hundred and eighth Lane in Oakla, Florida,
1:21
Speaker 1: is lined with uniform homes, each one divided into separate
1:24
Speaker 1: apartment units. They sit on relatively generous plots of land
1:29
Speaker 1: with greenery to the front and a quiet road where
1:32
Speaker 1: children can run around, visit with their friends, and ride
1:35
Speaker 1: their bikes. The neighborhood is full of families. The children
1:39
Speaker 1: often gather on the open green to play sports and
1:42
Speaker 1: other games, their parents sharing the duties of supervising their activities.
1:47
Speaker 1: This was the case just before dark on June Tewod
1:50
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. For most of the children, the school
1:53
Speaker 1: year had just ended. That Friday night marked the beginning
1:57
Speaker 1: of the summer holidays. For these kids, it was one
2:00
Speaker 1: of the most exciting times of the whole year. At
2:04
Speaker 1: just before nine pm, the joyful atmosphere was harshly interrupted.
2:09
Speaker 1: From down the street. Neighbors heard the distinctive sound of
2:12
Speaker 1: a single gunshot rang out from the open green. Local
2:16
Speaker 1: residents watched as a mother of four, Ajuka Owens, collapsed
2:20
Speaker 1: to the ground. She was outside of a neighbor's house,
2:23
Speaker 1: just across the street from her own home. Her nine
2:26
Speaker 1: year old son had been next to her.
2:30
Speaker 2: One Lady, Sir, the one I always calls the god,
2:35
Speaker 2: come come come.
2:37
Speaker 3: Here, nine one one.
2:39
Speaker 4: What is the address of the emergency?
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Speaker 5: Hei?
2:40
Speaker 4: Your mom running in a gross or words. I need
2:43
Speaker 4: you to repeat thead for me to make sure torect
2:45
Speaker 4: I don't know what's going on? Okay, Sorry, mom's lenning.
2:49
Speaker 6: In the grass, sir, nobody wants to go over there.
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Speaker 4: Sure, this is very important. I need you to repeat
2:55
Speaker 4: the address for me to make sure I have it right.
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Speaker 6: Boys, work out right.
3:01
Speaker 4: It's the old lady that always caused the consover, he sir.
3:05
Speaker 7: Hey, if you get over here, sir, yes.
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Speaker 2: I need you to go inside out and lock the
3:12
Speaker 2: door for your sake.
3:14
Speaker 1: Okay. He's in front of the lady's house who was
3:16
Speaker 1: knocking on our door.
3:17
Speaker 8: Okay, it's the old lady that always calls the consover here.
3:22
Speaker 9: Okay, sir.
3:24
Speaker 4: Do you see the deputy right right here?
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Speaker 2: She's on the ground her the cops put we're out here.
3:31
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
3:32
Speaker 3: Okay.
3:33
Speaker 1: Panicked parents and the neighbors were not the only residents
3:36
Speaker 1: to place a call to nine one one from inside
3:39
Speaker 1: Unit three, behind the door that Agica had approached. Moments before,
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Speaker 1: fifty eight year old Susan Lawrence placed her own panicked
3:47
Speaker 1: and distressed call to emergency services.
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Speaker 4: Oh my god, this is just to burst out, I'm sure. Okay,
3:58
Speaker 4: repeat that as just for to make sure I have
4:00
Speaker 4: a correct Okay, what's going to take a de bressed
4:05
Speaker 4: on the calm down. You say someone trying to break
4:09
Speaker 4: down your door? Is that correct? The woman was screaming
4:12
Speaker 4: and yellowing, she was throwing.
4:18
Speaker 3: Okay, it was a female.
4:21
Speaker 2: I didn't know what the doing, my dunness, I saw that.
4:29
Speaker 4: You shot at the door. That correct, that's the door,
4:32
Speaker 4: because I gonna.
4:38
Speaker 5: He said the woman who.
4:39
Speaker 10: Was text me.
4:41
Speaker 4: Okay, you still see the subject. I don't know where.
4:45
Speaker 4: I'm still in my house. I didn't open my door.
4:49
Speaker 4: But did you know her?
4:53
Speaker 1: She come back and realis because of her children?
4:55
Speaker 6: Her children to test passing over here?
4:57
Speaker 4: They're bothering me and bothering and said, well off is
5:01
Speaker 4: she a neighbor?
5:03
Speaker 10: Yes.
5:06
Speaker 1: Deputies from the Marion County Sheriff's Office responded to the
5:09
Speaker 1: green where they found Agrica or a j As her
5:12
Speaker 1: friends knew her, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
5:17
Speaker 3: Okay where where?
5:21
Speaker 1: No, sorry, she's in that house, that apartment right here,
5:24
Speaker 1: this first apartment.
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Speaker 8: I did do real quick, wake up, wake up.
5:35
Speaker 4: Let me see.
5:37
Speaker 1: Neighbors called for her young sons to keep their distance,
5:40
Speaker 1: and everyone kept an eye out for the woman they
5:42
Speaker 1: knew to be the shooter. Their widely despised neighbor, Susan Lawrence.
5:48
Speaker 1: Officers were directed to Susan's door.
5:54
Speaker 3: All right, off.
6:00
Speaker 6: With the marls, cut out out of your heads, up.
6:09
Speaker 3: From your hands, from your hands, turn around, turn around?
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Speaker 3: Where's your gun at hand?
6:18
Speaker 11: Entertained?
6:19
Speaker 3: Is there anybody else in the house?
6:22
Speaker 8: Can I just get no?
6:23
Speaker 3: No, no, right now?
6:26
Speaker 12: You're not under rest.
6:27
Speaker 3: Be entertained.
6:37
Speaker 1: Deputies began piecing together the events of the evening. Before
6:40
Speaker 1: detectives arrived on scene, a single bullet hole had punctured
6:59
Speaker 1: the door to the unit. Susan had fired her gun
7:02
Speaker 1: from inside her living room, directly at her thirty five
7:05
Speaker 1: year old neighbor, who stood on the other side. The
7:08
Speaker 1: mother of four received emergency treatment on scene and then
7:12
Speaker 1: was transported to the hospital, where she died. Susan Lawrence
7:18
Speaker 1: was immediately detained, though not formally arrested or charged. In Florida,
7:23
Speaker 1: the controversial standard ground law protects the right of residence
7:27
Speaker 1: to defend themselves when within it their own homes. In
7:30
Speaker 1: these cases, when threatened, there is no duty to retreat.
7:35
Speaker 1: The law allows for a deadly act of self defense
7:38
Speaker 1: to be justified, but only when there is a reasonable
7:41
Speaker 1: threat of severe bodily harm or death. In the chaos
7:45
Speaker 1: of the emergency response, it was not yet clear what
7:48
Speaker 1: had prompted Susan Lawrence to make the extreme decision to
7:51
Speaker 1: fire her handgun.
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Speaker 3: All right, that's fine, we'll figure it out, all right. Hi, okay,
8:10
Speaker 3: So I'm going to record my all time favorite farm
8:13
Speaker 3: for you guys. It's called the green Grass grows all around. Yeah,
8:20
Speaker 3: I'm bored, So here we go. Down in the crowd
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Speaker 3: there was a hole.
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Speaker 1: Aj was the mother of four children, the youngest only
8:33
Speaker 1: three years old, in the eldest twelve. She was a
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Speaker 1: devoted mother, someone who would regularly go out of her
8:39
Speaker 1: way to help her friends and neighbors. She is remembered
8:43
Speaker 1: as someone who endeavored to set a positive example, expressing warmth, compassion,
8:48
Speaker 1: and positivity while building a healthy spiritual life path for
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Speaker 1: her and her children.
8:56
Speaker 3: All Right, all right, y'all, let y'all be encourage and
9:00
Speaker 3: pray my strength in theseage.
9:06
Speaker 1: On the evening of June third, AJ crossed the street
9:08
Speaker 1: to confront Susan over the older woman's behavior and language
9:12
Speaker 1: towards her children. Two of AJ's sons reported Susan throwing
9:16
Speaker 1: a roller skate impossibly an iPad at them. This incident
9:22
Speaker 1: was not the first of its kind. Fifty eight year
9:26
Speaker 1: old Susan Lawrence lived alone. She had no children. For
9:30
Speaker 1: three years, she had rented the apartment next to the
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Speaker 1: large green For at least two of those years. She
9:35
Speaker 1: had complained repeatedly to law enforcement, to other neighbors, and
9:40
Speaker 1: to whoever would listen about the noise and nuisance of
9:43
Speaker 1: the children playing next to her home. She had her
9:47
Speaker 1: landlord place no trespassing signs on the edge of his
9:50
Speaker 1: property line in a failed attempt to keep the children
9:53
Speaker 1: off of the grass. In early twenty twenty two, she
9:58
Speaker 1: reported that Aj hit her with her no trespassing sign.
10:01
Speaker 1: She would later claim that this was an attack on her.
10:04
Speaker 1: Witnesses described the encounter as heated but nonviolent.
10:09
Speaker 2: Well, because the lady crossed the street on her phone
10:12
Speaker 2: hit me with a.
10:13
Speaker 8: Sigh, you already know that she call it yeah.
10:18
Speaker 1: One of her repeated claims was that AJ's children walked
10:21
Speaker 1: their dog on the green and failed to clean up
10:24
Speaker 1: after it.
10:24
Speaker 5: Her children, who were roughing your dog on the company
10:27
Speaker 5: says no trespassing and you're always walking the dog.
10:30
Speaker 1: AJ told police that Susan would threaten her boys, telling
10:34
Speaker 1: them that if they continued to trespass on the green,
10:37
Speaker 1: she would have them arrested.
10:39
Speaker 8: It's funny because I'm the one that never comes outside,
10:43
Speaker 8: it says anything.
10:44
Speaker 1: So she comes outside to go to the car or something.
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Speaker 8: She sees him. Oh, I told young to have you arrested.
10:52
Speaker 1: In December twenty twenty two, deputies responded to yet another
10:56
Speaker 1: of Susan's calls. This time she said that the children
11:00
Speaker 1: again ignored her sign, and then she claimed they had
11:04
Speaker 1: stolen it. She had another encounter with a J.
11:10
Speaker 8: Sheriff's office. What's going on?
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Speaker 13: Both the children screaming, your fool heads of running around.
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Speaker 13: I had my sure front of her something. I have
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Speaker 13: to listen to the screaming and yell As soon as
11:21
Speaker 13: I moved to chuck. The kids are coming up.
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Speaker 8: My guys.
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Speaker 3: They know that that's.
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Speaker 8: Supposed to be over here.
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Speaker 3: They trust tells me to shut up.
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Speaker 13: Said disrespect and he's exchanging. Listen, my name is don't
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Speaker 13: let me shut up and call no, no, no, I'm
11:44
Speaker 13: not going to do that. I said, go wherever you
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Speaker 13: live listening.
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Speaker 3: His mother comes over here.
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Speaker 13: If you chething, you know, hoop your ass out and.
11:54
Speaker 4: Will beat you.
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Speaker 13: Up, excuse me, bloody, and I said, see that pass.
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Speaker 3: No, I'm not gonna I'm.
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Speaker 8: Where she Do you know where she lives? Do you
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Speaker 8: know what she looks like? But I'm not going to
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Speaker 8: do this.
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Speaker 1: Subsequent calls to police made by Susan did little to
12:21
Speaker 1: diffuse the situation. Indeed, there was nothing that law enforcement
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Speaker 1: could or would do to address the noise made by
12:28
Speaker 1: neighborhood children playing. Susan's claims that the children were antagonizing her,
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Speaker 1: damaging her truck, or risking her safety by leaving toys
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Speaker 1: out near to the sidewalk were countered by the parents'
12:39
Speaker 1: assertions that she, not the kids, was the problem.
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Speaker 2: Keep running back and flat over the year when the
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Speaker 2: kids are out front, I don't you know, it's really noisy.
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Speaker 2: For some reason, they love to play over here.
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Speaker 8: Guys, probably does this open.
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Speaker 2: I understand that I have migraines, horribly migraines. I had
12:59
Speaker 2: a very gay car. I don't want to hear the children.
13:02
Speaker 2: The kids are not earning anybody. The kids, you know,
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Speaker 2: they're not damaging anything. What they're damaging me because the
13:08
Speaker 2: migings are so bad most days.
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Speaker 10: I could barely stand.
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Speaker 3: I mean, they literally live across the street on the
13:14
Speaker 3: other side.
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Speaker 11: Yeah, I understand what you're telling me, and I get it,
13:19
Speaker 11: but you don't have.
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Speaker 10: So power to say, hey, they can't be in this park.
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Speaker 2: He's trespassing it right now, he's trespassing.
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Speaker 10: He came over to come and asked this question, what
13:32
Speaker 10: do you need to do?
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Speaker 13: What do you want us to do?
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Speaker 2: I mean, because he's screaming all the time too, Okay.
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Speaker 2: And I was kind of recent with her one day
13:46
Speaker 2: because we were all playing here, you know, the kids, everything, jumping.
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Speaker 8: Let's go, and just like, you don't why one day
13:53
Speaker 8: you guys are and.
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Speaker 1: I'm like, and that's why I'm like.
13:56
Speaker 8: Whoa.
14:02
Speaker 3: Where I'm getting too much feedback. It's a dog.
14:11
Speaker 1: We can't stop the dog from barket.
14:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, but much feedback? Can you please at.
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Speaker 12: Least well you have a one.
14:21
Speaker 11: Apparently we can't say a conversation.
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Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
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Speaker 1: The last complaint that Susan made to police was in
14:34
Speaker 1: a nine to one to one call placed only minutes
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Speaker 1: before she fired the shot that killed a j Owens.
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Speaker 1: On that call, Susan told police that, yet again, the
14:43
Speaker 1: children were on the property where she lived, making noise
14:47
Speaker 1: and leaving their things out. She was told that deputies
14:50
Speaker 1: were on their way to check it out. AJ then
14:53
Speaker 1: came to her door, demanding that they discuss her treatment
14:56
Speaker 1: of the children. Two minutes after disconnecting the call to nine,
15:00
Speaker 1: Susan walked into her bedroom, where she kept two handguns
15:04
Speaker 1: in the bottom of a waste basket. She retrieved to
15:06
Speaker 1: Remington threet eighty. With the gun in hand, she walked
15:10
Speaker 1: back to the living room where AJ was yelling at
15:12
Speaker 1: her on the other side of the door. She fired
15:15
Speaker 1: and then again called nine to one one. In the
15:21
Speaker 1: wake of her death, with her shooter not yet arrested,
15:24
Speaker 1: a community movement emerged calling for swift justice. AJ's shooter
15:29
Speaker 1: was known, her family and their supporters saw no reason
15:33
Speaker 1: for delay. They believed that Susan Lawrence should have been
15:36
Speaker 1: arrested and charged immediately.
15:40
Speaker 8: The field is a public field. We live in an
15:41
Speaker 8: apartment complex. Nobody owns anything. We all lease and even
15:47
Speaker 8: the field is big, so you know, it's really big.
15:50
Speaker 8: Even when they play out there, they don't play on
15:53
Speaker 8: the side where her apartment is. They play on the
15:56
Speaker 8: other side. To avoid all this confusion, but she comes
15:59
Speaker 8: out in anyways, anytimes the kids are out there, she's
16:03
Speaker 8: coming outside. She antagonizes kids. She calls them name slaves,
16:07
Speaker 8: racial slurs, all kinds of stuff, all of the children.
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Speaker 13: Did she say something to your children.
16:14
Speaker 8: Yes, she says stuff to everybody's children.
16:23
Speaker 7: And we hope that the state attorney will consider these
16:29
Speaker 7: witness statements from those neighbors who lived in that apartment
16:34
Speaker 7: complex who had to deal with this woman who antagonized
16:41
Speaker 7: their children on a systematic basis.
16:46
Speaker 11: We had only one side of the story. Okay, we
16:48
Speaker 11: know that she shot through the door. Of course, on
16:51
Speaker 11: her side of the story, she makes claims that her
16:54
Speaker 11: life was being threatened. And the way the laws are
16:57
Speaker 11: written in this state, and this is what people need
16:59
Speaker 11: to under stand, our hands are tied in law enforcement
17:02
Speaker 11: in these cases where we are instructed that we cannot
17:05
Speaker 11: make the arrest because we have to rule out whether
17:08
Speaker 11: the shooting was justified or unjustified. So one of the
17:15
Speaker 11: biggest things is the interview of witnesses. And some of
17:18
Speaker 11: our witnesses were the mother's kids, and obviously we were
17:22
Speaker 11: not going to interview them that night. We know the
17:25
Speaker 11: direction is going and we can't give out information, and
17:28
Speaker 11: it's difficult because here's the truth. Did we want to
17:30
Speaker 11: make the arrest that night. Absolutely we did, There's no
17:33
Speaker 11: doubt about it. It's tragic when we see somebody that
17:36
Speaker 11: just shoots through a door and shoots another human being,
17:39
Speaker 11: really just because of a neighborhood squabble.
17:48
Speaker 5: Susan Detective Steff Detective Peterson.
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Speaker 1: When the fifty eight year old sat down with detectives,
17:57
Speaker 1: she repeatedly stated that she had been in fear for
18:00
Speaker 1: her life when aj approached her door, the young mother
18:04
Speaker 1: pounded on it aggressively. Critically, Susan claimed at that time,
18:08
Speaker 1: Agica had threatened to kill her.
18:12
Speaker 3: That's what happened.
18:13
Speaker 5: And I left the conclusion, well, I was just I'm like,
18:17
Speaker 5: kids go home, so they go home, and then all
18:20
Speaker 5: of a sudden she comes out and she is just
18:22
Speaker 5: banging on my door and like, go away.
18:24
Speaker 9: I don't and I'm not dealing with you the night.
18:27
Speaker 9: And then she started banging so hard everything started shaking,
18:30
Speaker 9: and I'm like, you really need to leave and shell
18:33
Speaker 9: you and she's just banking ban the.
18:35
Speaker 4: Way, you know, and I'm like.
18:39
Speaker 5: She has actually wanted to be I'm like, it just just.
18:41
Speaker 9: Keeps getting worse and worse, and like, I don't know
18:43
Speaker 9: what to do with her, and she bangs so hard
18:46
Speaker 9: it looked like.
18:46
Speaker 3: My dog was going to fly off.
18:47
Speaker 2: And that's what I just panicked.
18:49
Speaker 5: And I was like, oh my god, she's really going.
18:50
Speaker 8: To kill me this time, you know.
18:52
Speaker 9: And so I don't even actually remember the opining up
18:55
Speaker 9: to that, and I just remember shooting.
18:57
Speaker 5: Where usually it's in my bed. And she came to
19:01
Speaker 5: your door and she was she was pounding on it.
19:04
Speaker 5: I was like, what the hell my cat's went?
19:06
Speaker 3: Was she saying? Was she saying anything? You know, talk
19:10
Speaker 3: to my sons.
19:10
Speaker 2: I'm going to kill you.
19:12
Speaker 12: I'm going to kill you.
19:13
Speaker 5: I'm like, oh, Jesus Christ, you know.
19:14
Speaker 4: And I just I was like in tears.
19:17
Speaker 9: I'm like shaking, and I'm like, oh my god. And
19:19
Speaker 9: I thought she had gone a way that she starts
19:21
Speaker 9: banging again.
19:22
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
19:23
Speaker 1: Ship After some time in the interview room, Detectives tell
19:26
Speaker 1: Susan that her neighbor is dead.
19:30
Speaker 10: Is that what happened?
19:30
Speaker 5: I mean, we got to kind of get specific about this.
19:33
Speaker 5: It's a big deal. I understand someone's dead.
19:37
Speaker 13: Jesus Christ.
19:47
Speaker 5: H So that's why I say it's important to be
19:49
Speaker 5: specific and honest about about about everything.
19:54
Speaker 4: SA.
20:01
Speaker 5: This was an absolute she's going to ensure.
20:05
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just like, did you see her with
20:07
Speaker 3: a gun or an underweapon or anything like that.
20:10
Speaker 5: I don't know what she had on the outside.
20:12
Speaker 9: You know, when my lights were off, you know, so
20:15
Speaker 9: she came up, it was dark out, and I'm like, great,
20:18
Speaker 9: now she's pounding on my door. No, she's scaring the
20:20
Speaker 9: crap out of me.
20:21
Speaker 3: You know.
20:21
Speaker 9: Now my door's moving and I didn't have it properly secured.
20:25
Speaker 9: And the next thing, I thought she was going to
20:27
Speaker 9: be in my house.
20:27
Speaker 12: You don't killing me.
20:29
Speaker 9: I mean, that's honest to God what I felt.
20:32
Speaker 5: It's not like, you know, in front of barnything.
20:34
Speaker 3: This was a real fear.
20:37
Speaker 1: Aj Owens was unarmed when she approached Susan Lawrence's home.
20:41
Speaker 1: Witnesses said that she first knocked on the sliding glass
20:44
Speaker 1: doors before moving to the front door, which was both
20:47
Speaker 1: locked and dead bolted. Not a single witness in the
20:51
Speaker 1: neighborhood overheard Aja threatening to kill Susan, though her yelling
20:55
Speaker 1: was within earshot of many witnesses. Neighbors told police that
20:59
Speaker 1: the words were either indistinguishable, or that they only heard
21:02
Speaker 1: AJ calling for Susan to come outside to address her.
21:06
Speaker 1: Susan claimed AJ's banging on her door was severe enough
21:10
Speaker 1: to cause the walls to shake. She claimed that her
21:12
Speaker 1: doorframe had been previously broken, making the lock less secure.
21:17
Speaker 1: Though it had been repaired, she believed that the pressure
21:20
Speaker 1: applied by AJ would be enough to break through the door.
21:24
Speaker 1: Crime scene analysts found evidence of the previous damage on
21:27
Speaker 1: the frame. Susan's landlord believed this was caused by the
21:30
Speaker 1: door being slammed shut aggressively in the past, though he
21:34
Speaker 1: could not be certain. Investigators also found that the door
21:38
Speaker 1: and locks were otherwise functioning properly.
21:42
Speaker 6: And why don't you admit if it was all the
21:45
Speaker 6: way around and a black woman had shot through a
21:49
Speaker 6: door and a white kid, you would have arrested Hood
21:52
Speaker 6: at night they were shooting at all our moms, and
22:04
Speaker 6: we can't let this go.
22:07
Speaker 1: After days with no arrest, the calls for action were growing.
22:11
Speaker 1: Louder An organized walk through downtown Okala, ending at the
22:14
Speaker 1: State Attorney's office in the courthouse sent a clear message
22:18
Speaker 1: arrest Susan Lawrence. Four days after the shooting, the fifty
22:22
Speaker 1: eight year old was brought in for questioning once more, stop.
22:27
Speaker 3: Stop, stop, go away away, you should move away.
22:30
Speaker 8: Finally, I'm going to kill you.
22:32
Speaker 1: That was the last time and aired. Okay, was there
22:35
Speaker 1: a spot you picked or something like that?
22:37
Speaker 9: I just kind of it was the door.
22:39
Speaker 5: I knew she was at the door shot.
22:43
Speaker 1: Susan reiterated that she had no intention to kill. She
22:47
Speaker 1: shot high so assumed she would not hit her. Later
22:51
Speaker 1: in the interview, detective's curiosity was piqued by her choice
22:54
Speaker 1: of language. Susan spoke of AG's behavior not being prudent
22:59
Speaker 1: or reasonable and that she was in mortal danger. This
23:03
Speaker 1: led detectives to ask had she been researching Florida's self
23:07
Speaker 1: defense laws. If so, when had she done so before
23:11
Speaker 1: or after she shot and killed aj Owens. Susan bought
23:15
Speaker 1: her first handgun, the Remington that she used that night,
23:18
Speaker 1: one and a half years prior the second she had
23:21
Speaker 1: bought only a few months before. These purchases were prompted,
23:25
Speaker 1: she said, at least in part by a desire to
23:28
Speaker 1: protect herself in her new home.
23:31
Speaker 12: What did you feel that was going to happen?
23:34
Speaker 5: And she didn't come in there via shit on me
23:35
Speaker 5: until I was dead.
23:37
Speaker 13: I mean that's where I felt.
23:38
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't understand why she came over to
23:40
Speaker 5: my house. If there was all these issues and problems,
23:42
Speaker 5: why did she just call somebody?
23:44
Speaker 2: That's to me, that's what you would.
23:45
Speaker 12: Do if you're normal, you're smart, okay, And the reason is.
23:49
Speaker 2: Oh hell no, no, absolutely, I know what you're thinking.
23:52
Speaker 13: Did I look up the laws so I could do something?
23:54
Speaker 1: You know, this is not a situation where you said
23:57
Speaker 1: something up to now because you were retired of this person.
24:00
Speaker 5: You were tired of the situation that put you in
24:02
Speaker 5: now okay.
24:04
Speaker 4: Sorry.
24:05
Speaker 1: Susan admitted to looking up information on another case which
24:08
Speaker 1: had involved at the standard ground law as a defense,
24:11
Speaker 1: but had only done so the previous day she read
24:14
Speaker 1: an article or two via Facebook, she said. Investigators later
24:18
Speaker 1: found that she had made Internet searches for the language
24:21
Speaker 1: of the state law, and then she had quoted it
24:24
Speaker 1: back to them.
24:26
Speaker 11: Hello, everyone, Sheriff Billy Woods here. I wanted to come
24:30
Speaker 11: to you tonight to give an update on the homicide
24:32
Speaker 11: it occurred over the weekend. Tonight, we have arrested fifty
24:37
Speaker 11: eight year old Susan Lawrence for the killing of Miss
24:41
Speaker 11: aj Owens. Now many of you were struggling to understand
24:45
Speaker 11: why there was not an immediate arrest. And that's one
24:48
Speaker 11: of the things. My detectives cannot complete an investigation without
24:52
Speaker 11: getting all sides of a story. And that night, all
24:56
Speaker 11: we had was one person's story, and that was the
24:58
Speaker 11: shooter story. But miss Owens's story had to be told
25:04
Speaker 11: through evidence and the eyes of witnesses who were there.
25:11
Speaker 1: On June six, twenty twenty three, Susan was charged for
25:14
Speaker 1: the killing of Agica Owens, to the disappointment of family
25:18
Speaker 1: and the community who supported them. The state claimed that
25:21
Speaker 1: they were unable to pursue a second degree murder charge.
25:24
Speaker 1: The DA did not feel they had sufficient evidence to
25:27
Speaker 1: prove Susan's intent to kill when she fired. Instead, she
25:31
Speaker 1: faced a lesser charge of first degree manslaughter. The state
25:35
Speaker 1: would argue that she had not intended to kill aj
25:38
Speaker 1: but had certainly fired with a careless disregard for her life.
25:42
Speaker 1: Susan's trial was scheduled for the summer The following years.
25:47
Speaker 5: First week the trials of not getting care in jail,
25:50
Speaker 5: on running employd tooshes or two hundred or one hundred.
25:53
Speaker 12: And of just framing the guy whocause.
25:55
Speaker 3: Of not caring for many time.
25:58
Speaker 1: The trial commenced in August twenty twenty four.
26:02
Speaker 12: Definditt believe that Objeca was going to break down that
26:04
Speaker 12: door and kill her. But you're also going to hear
26:06
Speaker 12: the defendant say that Objica was at the door that
26:10
Speaker 12: evening and I want to speak to you because I
26:12
Speaker 12: don't like the way you're talking to my sons. At
26:17
Speaker 12: the end of this case, you're going to hear at
26:21
Speaker 12: the defendant Susan Lawrence, knowing the police are not in
26:29
Speaker 12: her apartment, door locked and shot through the lock that
26:34
Speaker 12: front that lock, front door, getting killed Osrica Oones who
26:41
Speaker 12: was unarmed.
26:44
Speaker 3: And Susan's mock and Susan's fucked in, Susan's soul.
26:49
Speaker 5: And Susan's fourth.
26:52
Speaker 10: She feels old.
26:54
Speaker 5: Oh, so she shoots the fire over her eyes.
26:59
Speaker 1: That's the magazine of that gun can currys.
27:03
Speaker 12: Six bullets, but Susan only fire holes.
27:07
Speaker 9: She twice, she fired three times without four times top
27:10
Speaker 9: five of six times once.
27:13
Speaker 1: In order to save her. That the jury heard from
27:17
Speaker 1: neighborhood children and their parents about Susan's behavior prior to
27:21
Speaker 1: the shooting, that she struck one of them with a
27:23
Speaker 1: hurled roller skate through an iPad and attempted to strike
27:27
Speaker 1: them with an umbrella. They responded by telling Susan that
27:30
Speaker 1: they were going to tell their mother, to which she replied,
27:33
Speaker 1: go ahead, I don't care. Accusations that Susan had used
27:37
Speaker 1: racial slurs towards the children in the past were excluded
27:41
Speaker 1: from the trial. It was thought that introducing the sentiments
27:44
Speaker 1: to the jury would cloud their decision making, as well
27:47
Speaker 1: as open a line for appeal for Susan later, if convicted.
27:51
Speaker 1: Jurors did hear about other alleged incidents in which she
27:54
Speaker 1: used insulting language towards the neighborhood children. Susan Lawrence chose
27:59
Speaker 1: not to take the stand in her own defense. Jurors
28:02
Speaker 1: heard her version of events through her videotaped interviews, throughout
28:06
Speaker 1: which she continued to complain about the children and speak
28:09
Speaker 1: unkindly of aj Two neighbors were called to testify to
28:14
Speaker 1: the loud banging they heard on Susan's door that night,
28:18
Speaker 1: including a von Costa from Unit four, who shared a
28:21
Speaker 1: wall with Susan's apartment.
28:24
Speaker 3: Started shaking and.
28:28
Speaker 5: Like pounding on the wall, and it really scared me.
28:35
Speaker 11: Did how long after you heard the door slam.
28:38
Speaker 10: Did you hear that county.
28:41
Speaker 5: Very shortly, very shortly, within.
28:44
Speaker 12: A few minutes. How did you describe the county?
28:49
Speaker 11: It was very loud.
28:53
Speaker 1: And it scared me because, uh, the wall was.
28:58
Speaker 8: Shaking when you heard the banging. What was your first
29:04
Speaker 8: thought of who was causing that?
29:06
Speaker 5: I thought Susan was banging on the wall.
29:08
Speaker 2: Did you later come to learn that that was not
29:10
Speaker 2: the case?
29:12
Speaker 10: Yes?
29:12
Speaker 7: Okay.
29:13
Speaker 3: What did you hear?
29:16
Speaker 2: I heard a lot of pounding, a lot of yelling, screaming, and.
29:22
Speaker 12: Then I heard a gunshot.
29:24
Speaker 3: Did you hear a lot of pounding on a door,
29:26
Speaker 3: like it was going to be pushed down?
29:28
Speaker 8: Yes?
29:29
Speaker 12: Did you call it like a cop knock?
29:31
Speaker 8: That's what I call it.
29:34
Speaker 12: Was it very loud, very loud.
29:39
Speaker 10: Did you hear anyone screaming?
29:42
Speaker 2: Yes?
29:42
Speaker 1: I heard a woman's voice screaming. To me, it sounded
29:48
Speaker 1: like she was screaming words, but I could not understand.
29:51
Speaker 8: Any of the words. Was there a lot of pounding
29:54
Speaker 8: on the door. Yeah.
29:57
Speaker 1: Regardless of whether AJ's banging on her door was frightening,
30:00
Speaker 1: the state argued that there was no real threat. Susan's
30:04
Speaker 1: first call to nine to one one that night had
30:06
Speaker 1: ended only two minutes before she fired, she had been
30:09
Speaker 1: told that the police were on their way. The landlord,
30:13
Speaker 1: Charles Gabbard, testified that prior to the shooting, he had
30:16
Speaker 1: repaired a jam on the front door. He said that
30:19
Speaker 1: it was structurally sound after he repaired it, despite some
30:23
Speaker 1: cosmetic damage. The door was sturdy and had a chain,
30:27
Speaker 1: a dead bolt, and a lock. Only the chain was
30:30
Speaker 1: not in use on the night in question. The trial
30:33
Speaker 1: was over within a week. Jury deliberations lasted two and
30:37
Speaker 1: a half hours. On how the clerk reed the verdict.
30:46
Speaker 13: Jerdick doesn't count one way the jury fine as as
30:50
Speaker 13: account one of the charge.
30:52
Speaker 12: The infant is guilty of manslaughter.
30:56
Speaker 1: Outside the courthouse, Ajika's mother, Pameladias, thanked the jury for
31:00
Speaker 1: their service and reaching the correct decision.
31:05
Speaker 10: Testimony the interrogation where she showed no remorse, continues to
31:13
Speaker 10: show no remorse, displayed the utmost care and concern for
31:21
Speaker 10: her cats, and she literally had just shot and killed
31:29
Speaker 10: a mom of four, rendering them with their entire support system,
31:40
Speaker 10: their everyday childhood experiences future just gone just like that.
31:51
Speaker 1: AJ's children are with family and are said to be
31:53
Speaker 1: coping the best they can under the circumstances. At the
31:57
Speaker 1: age of sixty, Susan Lawrence faces a sentence of up
32:00
Speaker 1: to thirty years. At the time of publication, this sentence
32:04
Speaker 1: has not yet been handed downs.
32:07
Speaker 3: All around and on this branch, there was a nest,
32:12
Speaker 3: the prettiest nest. That's evidence. See let me see your nest. Well,
32:19
Speaker 3: the nest on the branch, and the branch on the tree,
32:21
Speaker 3: and the tree and the hole and the hole in
32:23
Speaker 3: the grass. Green grass grows all around, all around, And.
32:30
Speaker 1: That was the tragic case of Ajica Owens. Many thanks
32:33
Speaker 1: to everyone who watches and supports us here at JTL.
32:37
Speaker 1: A special thank you goes to Krismillie and Violet Ross
32:41
Speaker 1: for joining our members lounge. I'm Kevin. This is just
32:45
Speaker 1: thought lounge, and I'll see in the next one to see.
32:48
Speaker 11: Please tell me who the screen saves.
32:50
Speaker 10: I can hear the christ repeat.
32:51
Speaker 12: Gotta take my time because these crimes get deep, but
32:54
Speaker 12: these stories can't hide.
32:55
Speaker 1: Let me find my seat, Kevin, go ahead and settle in.
32:57
Speaker 9: Gott it be selective, all the research, keeping it objective,
33:01
Speaker 9: always being effective.
33:02
Speaker 8: Could say he got a neck pick of the litter.
33:04
Speaker 1: You see how Newton got his back.
33:05
Speaker 13: Yeah, the content that
33:06
Speaker 6: You need is to be