After the sentencing of Susan Lorincz – the White girl who fatally shot her Black neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens, via an condo door in a dispute over Owens’ youngsters enjoying close to her residence – the sufferer’s mom mentioned her household may lastly begin to heal.
“Now, we truly can forge ahead on the journey of true healing that we so often speak about,” Pamela Dias mentioned after her daughter’s killer was ordered in 2024 to serve 25 years in a Florida state jail.
But that hasn’t all the time come simple, Dias mentioned this month.
In a nation the place firearms-related violence – from escalated private disputes to attacks involving race and even political assassinations – proceed unabated, Owens’ household set out to foster its personal therapeutic by supporting different victims via fundraising for his or her near-term wants, urgent to change key gun legal guidelines and advocating for racial justice.
“No sentence or verdict can ever bring full peace or accountability for what was taken from our family,” Dias instructed NCS. “Our focus remains on honoring Ajike’s legacy through justice, healing and community care.”
Owens was killed June 2, 2023, when she knocked on Lorincz’s door after her youngsters – whose outside play had grow to be some extent of rivalry between the neighbors – instructed their mom the neighbor had thrown a pair of curler skates. Lorincz referred to as police, then fired a gun via the entrance door of her condo, killing Owens. She later claimed she feared for her life. A jury discovered Lorincz guilty of manslaughter.
“I am so sorry I took AJ’s life. I never intended to kill her,” Lorincz mentioned at her sentencing, including she felt confused the evening of the taking pictures as a result of Owens was screaming. NCS has reached out to her lawyer.
Now, the core mission of the non-profit Standing in the Gap Fund, which Dias began with the older sister of Owens’ greatest pal, is to assist households impacted by gun and racial violence and to struggle for change.
“What began as a response to unimaginable tragedy has grown into a movement for justice, healing and collective care,” cofounder Takema Robinson instructed NCS. “We believe the path to change is twofold: care for families today and reform for tomorrow.”
That contains providing “rapid-response grants to families” after a gun assault, she mentioned. The group additionally advocates for legislative change, together with difficult so-called “Stand Your Ground” laws – just like the one Lorincz tried to use – that allow folks use lethal drive in self-defense in sure conditions with out concern of felony prosecution; such measures have been linked to elevated murder charges.
“We’re not just responding to violence; we’re helping communities reimagine safety and belonging,” Robinson mentioned, including the Standing the Gap Fund additionally invests in arts and storytelling “as tools for justice and healing.”
Operating as a donor-advised fund hosted by the Greater Washington Community Foundation, it goals to start offering grants to households and political organizers by 2027, Robinson mentioned.
“The Fund was born out of that need – to transform grief into action,” Dias mentioned. “Supporting this fund isn’t charity – it’s community care in action. Together, we can ensure no one else has to stand in the gap alone.”
For Dias, honoring her daughter and therapeutic her household means serving to others as firearms proceed to minimize lives quick each day, with greater than 11,000 folks killed by a gun thus far this 12 months within the United States, in accordance to the Gun Violence Archive.
“Each new tragedy is a painful reminder of what we have endured,” Dias mentioned.
Owens’ demise, at 35, referred to as to thoughts different killings, notably of Black folks, over seemingly easy misunderstandings: Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was chased and shot useless whereas jogging in 2020 in south Georgia by three White males now serving life sentences within the case; Trayvon Martin, 17, was strolling residence from a Florida retailer when he was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch captain, an act for which the shooter was acquitted.
More than two years after Owens’ demise, “our healing is ongoing – for me, for our family, and for the broader community still reeling from such a violent and traumatic incident,” Dias mentioned.
“We’re deeply aware that gun violence continues to devastate communities across the nation – and our story is part of that larger reality.”
Dias hopes her daughter by some means is aware of her life continues to encourage motion and neighborhood care and “her name is now tied to change,” the mom mentioned.
“My daughter and I would often have conversations about what we wanted out of life, and she would tell me, ‘One day the world will know my name,’” Dias mentioned. “My daughter’s story reminds the world that love can be louder than hate. We carry that love forward in everything we do – ensuring that her legacy is not defined by tragedy but by transformation.”
Everyone has a proper to stay, love and be protected in their very own communities, Dias mentioned.
“My daughter, Ajike, was joyful, vibrant and devoted to her four children. She was supermom. She was the football mom … She worked hard to provide a better life for them,” she mentioned, calling Owens their “compass.”
After shedding their mom, navigating life has not been simple, Dias mentioned.
“It’s been very hard for the children – they were very young when they lost their mother, and it’s something no child should have to endure,” she mentioned. “At the identical time, they’ve proven power and resilience that continues to amaze me.
“I can see the values my daughter instilled in them – her kindness, her love, her faith – and that means they carry a piece of her wherever they go.”
For Dias, her daughter’s values and legacy are what it’s all about.
“Our message is simple,” she mentioned: “When we stand together, we heal together.”