- Ajike "AJ" Owens was shot dead through her neighbor's door in Florida last Friday.
- Susan Louise Lorincz was arrested and charged in Owens' death following public pressure on Tuesday.
The mother of Ajike Owens, the Black woman shot dead through her neighbor's door, said her grandkids blame themselves for their mother's death.
Owens' four children are aged 12, 9, 8, and 3.
Grandmother Pamela Dias said the 12-year-old blames himself and told her, "I couldn't save her. I tried to give her CPR."
Dias said the nine-year-old "witnessed his mother shot and killed. In his soul and his heart, it's his fault that his older brother, his baby sister, and his baby brother, as well as himself, will never see their mother again, because he went home and told his mother what this woman did to him."
Owens' mother, little brother, attorneys, neighbor, and local leaders spoke at a press conference in Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday, a day after the neighbor Susan Louise Lorincz was arrested.
Lorincz, 58, who is white, was arrested and charged with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery, and two counts of assault in the death of Owens, Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement on Tuesday. Jail records show Lorincz was booked, but did not list a lawyer who could speak on her behalf.
"One of the reasons I am so relieved that Sheriff Woods made that arrest last night is that it tells Pamela's children it was not their fault," national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who's representing the family, said during the press conference on Wednesday.
It took four days from the shooting on Friday until an arrest was made.
"No arrest for 24 hours. No arrest for 36 hours. No arrest for 48 hours," Crump said. "I mean, the hours must have felt like years for Pamela Dias and her family."
"We are very grateful to Sheriff Woods for making that arrest," Crump said. "We don't take that lightly and we don't take it for granted. Because Black people in America getting swift justice isn't always a given."
Owen's family wants the charges against Lorincz increased to murder
Lorincz told investigators that she acted in self-defense, and earlier the sheriff had said that because of Florida's stand-your-ground law, he couldn't make an arrest unless he could prove the shooter did not act in self-defense.
"Yes, I am grateful for an arrest. Very disappointed it took four days," Dias said during the press conference. "When is it OK in America to shoot someone behind a locked door? When is that OK?"
Crump said they want prosecutors to increase the charges against Lorincz from manslaughter to murder.
Crump pushed back on prosecutors saying that the case against Lorincz was a "difficult" one, suggesting that if Owens fired the gun instead there would have been an arrest "that night."
Phyllis Wills, a white woman who lives in the same apartment complex as Owens and Lorincz, said during the press conference that many children play in the public field nearby, and that Lorincz yells at many kids playing there, and even called Owens' children "slaves".
The sheriff said Owens was shot moments after going to Lorincz's apartment after Lorincz yelled at Owens' children as they played in a grassy area outside nearby.
He also said Lorincz had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of the children.
Before the confrontation, Lorincz had been yelling racial slurs at the children, Crump previously said in a statement.
"Black kids should not have a heavier burden than white children just going to play in the field," Crump said during the press conference on Wednesday.