MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The Marion County Sheriff is calling for calm after an argument about children playing led to deadly gunfire.
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There has not been an arrest, and the victim’s family is demanding justice.
The family of the woman killed in the shooting held a news conference Monday about their loss at a Marion County church.
The shooting happened on Friday on 108th Lane east of I-75. Deputies were called only after a woman shot through her door, killing AJ Owens, a mother of four children.
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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is taking up the case, saying there is a racial component to the shooting, and frustrations about the lack of arrest.
The sheriff said he can’t make any moves until they decide if the case falls under the stand your ground law.
Neighbors said the whole thing started with children playing on a field next to the shooter’s house that evening, which the shooter didn’t like.
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“She’ll come out and just yell at them, call them names, call the police. All of us have talked to the police about her attitude toward the children,” neighbor Ashley Remy said.
Neighbors said the children left an iPad behind and the shooter took it.
When the children went to get it back, deputies said the shooter threw a pair of skates at the children.
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Owens went to confront that person and was killed outside the apartment. Her children ran to a neighbor’s house saying to call the police.
The shooter told authorities that Owens was banging on doors and yelling.
The delay is angering those close to Owens.
“Charge her,” Avis Thompson said. “You know who did it. Charge her.”
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