A Florida sheriff says detectives must investigate self-defense claims before any criminal charges can be brought against a white woman who fatally shot her Black neighbor last week in a violent culmination of what was described as a 2½-year feud.
Protesters gather in the lobby of the Marion County Courthouse, Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Ocala, demanding the arrest of a woman who shot and killed Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old mother of four, last Friday night, June 2.
Woods said Monday detectives are working with the State Attorney’s Office and must investigate possible self-defense claims before they can move forward with any possible criminal charges. The sheriff pointed out that because of the stand your ground law he can’t legally make an arrest unless he can prove the shooter did not act in self-defense.
Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment Friday night found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. She later died at a hospital. She ran toward the house, and started chest compressions until a rescue crew arrived. She said there wasn't an altercation and that Owens didn't have a weapon.
“I'm absolutely heart broken,” Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told The Associated Press. She described the fatal shooting as “so senseless.”
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