After the sentencing of Susan Lorincz – the White woman who fatally shot her Black neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens, through an apartment door in a dispute over Owens’ children playing near her home – the victim’s mother said her family could finally start to heal.
“Now, we truly can forge ahead on the journey of true healing that we so often speak about,” Pamela Dias said after her daughter’s killer was ordered in 2024 to serve 25 years in a Florida state prison.
But that hasn’t always come easy, Dias said this month.
In a nation where firearms-related violence – from escalated personal disputes to attacks involving race and even political assassinations – continue unabated, Owens’ family set out to foster its own healing by supporting other victims through fundraising for their near-term needs, pressing to change key gun laws and advocating for racial justice.
Pamela Dias, second from right, remembers
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