Jonathan Mendelsohn
An over 2-year feud has ended in murder after 35-year-old Ajike Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor. Their alleged feud was over the slain woman’s children playing in the neighbor’s yard.
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Owens was blasted through the door of the currently unnamed neighbor’s home in Ocala, Florida. She was shot while some of her children played outside, and as her young son stood next to her. The mother died from her injuries after being taken to a local hospital.
Horrific Shooting of Mom By Her Own Neighbor
No charges have been made against the shooter due to possible self-defense claims. The shooter and the victim were reported to have had many disputes since 2021, leading up to Owens’ death.
During a press conference, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said, “I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands. I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today.” Woods later added, “There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth. Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
Attorney Ben Crump shared a post on Twitter discussing the tragic case. The post featured a photo of Owens accompanied by a caption that read, “This is Ajike “AJ” Owens — a mother of 4 fatally shot after she reportedly knocked on the door of a white woman’s residence to retrieve her child’s iPad. It’s believed that Owens’ children accidentally left the device behind in a field they were playing in, & the woman took it.”
Pamela Diaz, the mother of the victim, spoke about her daughter’s tragic death at a vigil, saying, “My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her. She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone.”
