OCALA, Fla. – A jury of six men and two women were selected Tuesday for the trial of Susan Lorincz, a 60-year-old Ocala woman accused of fatally shooting her Black neighbor last year, an incident that has sparked outrage and protests.

After calling around 70 prospective jurors into the courtroom on Monday, attorneys selected a six-member jury and two alternates for Lorincz’s trial. The jury, composed of six men and two women, is entirely white.

Lorincz is accused of fatally shooting her neighbor, 25-year-old Ajike “AJ” Owens, on June 2, 2023.

Opening statements began with the prosecution outlining the events of that fateful day when deputies said Owens, a mother of four, approached Lorincz’s home to confront her about allegedly throwing roller skates at her children.

According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Lorincz fired a shot through a locked front door, striking and killing Owens.

The prosecution played a recording of Lorincz’s interview, where she admitted to firing the loaded pistol.

Owens’ children, who were all under 13 at the time of the shooting, are expected to testify during the trial, according to the family’s attorney, Anthony Thomas.

Lorincz’s defense claims she acted in self-defense, asserting that she feared for her life during the incident. In her recorded statement, she also mentioned not liking the way Owens spoke to her sons.

If convicted, Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison. The trial is expected to conclude on Friday.

As of Tuesday, Lorincz remains held in the Marion County Jail on suicide watch, according to authorities.

ORLANDO, Fla. – We’ve got a warm August day ahead with temperatures running 3-4° above normal, yielding highs in the mid-90s with heat index levels of 108°. 

There is a 30%-40% chance for afternoon storms featuring frequent cloud-to-ground lightning. 

A rare summer cold front will push into Florida this weekend, ushering in a drier airmass (though not discernably much “cooler”  – we have to wait until November for that), but it will steer Ernesto safely east of Florida by over 800 miles. 

While we won’t have any direct impact here, we will see our swells building on the Atlantic coast bringing a dangerous threat for rip currents midweek through the weekend.

Ernesto will be picked up by a trough to the north in a pattern more typical of October than mid-August, steering the tropical system well east of Florida as it curves into the open Atlantic. 

The storm could become a hurricane in the next few days and has a chance to become a major hurricane before impacting Bermuda this weekend.

SARASOTA, Fla. (WLS) — A 12-year-old girl is critically injured after her mother accidentally ran her over during the first day of school drop-off in Florida on Monday, WFTS reported.

It happened at about 7:45 a.m. local time near Booker Middle School in Sarasota, a Florida Highway Patrol report said.

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The police report said a vehicle stopped in the right turn lane to drop off a pedestrian, who got out on the passenger side and dropped markers and pens.

That’s when the pedestrian bent down to pick her items from under the vehicle, and the vehicle’s driver began to move forward, hitting her, the report said.

WFTS in Tampa Bay reported that the pedestrian is a 12-year-old girl, and the driver is her mother.

“She immediately stopped when she heard her child screaming,” FHP Trooper Kenn Watson said, according to WFTS.

The police report said the girl was transported to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital with critical injuries.