1 deputy shot dead, 2 suffering gunshot wounds in ambush
(TAVARES, Fla.) — Three Lake County Sheriff’s deputies were shot, one fatally, while they were responding to a report of disturbance in a Florida home.
One deputy is dead. Another deputy was struck in the shoulder and is now in stable condition. The third deputy was struck in the armpit, the groin and the stomach area multiple times, has undergone surgery and is in serious critical condition, Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell said during a press conference.
Deputies responded to a call about a disturbance that was in progress and while they were conducting their investigation, they learned there was an issue at a home a few houses down from where they were, Grinnell said.
The deputies then responded there and saw what appeared to be the back door kicked in and they heard a disturbance inside the house. When the deputies entered the home, there was “a lot of gunfire” and one of the deputies was struck, Grinnell said.
The backup deputy with him was able to retreat out of the home but the first deputy was trapped inside the home.
Multiple deputies responded to the scene and formed a “rescue team” to go back into the house and attempt to get the deputy inside the home and they were met with a “hail of gunfire” and another deputy sheriff was struck, but they were able to retreat from the house, Grinnell said.
“It was a very violent scene,” Grinnell said.
“They were ambushed,” he said.
Law enforcement then mobilized the SWAT team as they were dealing with “a lot of firepower,” Grinnell said.
Of the people inside the home, two are dead and one was transported and their condition is unknown, according to Grinnell. They found multiple firearms in the home.
There is no longer a threat to the public, according to Grinnell.
(OCALA, FL) — A jury began deliberating Friday in the case of Susan Lorincz – the Florida woman who is charged with first-degree felony manslaughter in the fatal shooting of her neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Owens, through a closed door on June 2, 2023, in Ocala, Florida.
The six-person panel was seated on Monday and began deliberating on Friday shortly after 12:00 p.m. ET after prosecutors and the defense presented their closing arguments in a case that gained national attention.
Lorincz shot Owens, a Black mother of four, through a closed door in the presence of her now 10-year-old son after she went to speak with Lorincz about a dispute over Owens’ children playing near her home, according to a June 6, 2023, statement from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).
Lorincz, who is white, was arrested on June 6, 2023, and charged with first-degree felony manslaughter for fatally shooting Owens on June 2, 2023, in Ocala, Florida. She pleaded not guilty on July 10, 2023, and was held on a $150,000 bond. If convicted, Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Anthony Thomas, attorney for the family of Owens, told ABC News in a statement after the jury was sworn in on Monday that the family is “disappointed in the all-white jury that was selected to determine the outcome” of this case.
“We would have wanted the jury to be more diverse. But we believe in equal justice, so we are going to see what happens,” added family attorney Ben Crump in a statement to ABC News.
“Historically, jurors in America have not reflected the diversity of America,” Crump continued. “We want to believe in our heart that any juror looking at this situation will administer justice. We must make sure that AJ Owens’ death is not in vain. We keep the faith that the American justice system works for people like AJ Owens, as well.”
How the trial unfolded
A host of neighbors, including two children, sheriff’s deputies, a 911 dispatcher and operator, crime scene investigators and forensic experts were among those who testified during the trial.
Prosecutors argued that Lorincz should be found guilty because she fatally shot an “unarmed” Owens through a “locked” door.
“Ms. Owens was banging on the door telling the defendant to come out,” state attorney Rich Buxman said in his closing argument. “Belief that there was an immediate or imminent danger, such that deadly force was necessary at that time, was simply unreasonable because there was no imminent danger. And that word imminent is very important. It’s included in the law for a reason… If Miss Owens would somehow have managed to bust through this locked, dead bolted metal door, entered her house and started coming at her, the defendant may have had a right to shoot because that danger would have then been imminent.”
The defense argued that Lorincz should be found not guilty because she was acting in self-defense because she feared for her life.
“The law says you should only convict someone if you’re convinced they’re guilty beyond a reasonable doubt…. If you’re back there and you’re deliberating and you’re thinking, ‘Man, she had some medical issues. She did live alone. She had these prior run-ins with Ajike, I could see how she could be scared of her.'” Amanda Sizemore, Lorincz’s attorney, said in her closing argument. “And if you have reasonable doubt, you should find Ms. Lorincz not guilty because that is what the law says. And each and every one of you took an oath to follow the law.”
A focus of the state’s argument was on the first 911 call that Lorincz made to report “trespassing” on June 2, 2023 – minutes before she ended up shooting Owens.
“No matter the outcome, I am committed to honoring my daughter Ajike’s memory by continuing to seek justice, not only for her but for every family who has faced a similar loss,” Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, told ABC News through a statement sent by her attorneys. “This trial has been an incredibly difficult journey, but I believe in the power of truth and justice.”
Susan Lorincz’s attorney did not respond to ABC News’ request for a statement.
According to witnesses, including the sheriff’s deputies who responded to the shooting, law enforcement was already on their way to Lorincz’s home when the shooting occurred because she had called 911 to report three children – one Latino and two Black – were “trespassing” on her property.
During the trial the locked door became a focus of the state’s argument and the subject of cross examination during the testimony of various witnesses.
The defense claimed that Owens told Lorincz that she was going to “kill” her and was trying to “break” in Lorincz’s front door that they argued was “damaged.”
The state zeroed in on this claim during the testimony on Tuesday of Lorincz’s former landlord Charles Gabbard.
Gabbard testified that, prior to the shooting, he had repaired a jam on Lorincz’s front door. He said that her door was “structurally sound” after he repaired it, despite some cosmetic damage. He said that the door was sturdy and had a chain, a deadbolt and a lock.
During cross-examination, Gabbard said that Lorincz did not tell him how the door was damaged but that “it was clear that someone slammed” the door. He said that after repairing it, he was planning to replace Lorincz’s door at some point. Asked by Lorincz’s attorney if the crack in the door was “substantial,” Gabbard said, “Yes.”
“Susan Lorincz told detectives, ‘I really thought she was going to break my door down,'” Sizemore said. “‘I really thought that I saw the door moving.’ And I really believe that. I honest to God believe that is what she said. She reasonably believed that. We heard Susan tell the detectives, ‘I heard Ms. Owens say, ‘I’m going to [expletive] kill you.’ … I heard the door crack, and when I heard that door crack, I fired.'”
(WASHINGTON) — Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office requested a delay Thursday in responding to a scheduling order from the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election subversion case, citing issues related to the Supreme Court’s decision that granted presidents immunity from prosecution for certain acts taken while in office.
In a joint status report filed Thursday evening, Smith’s office said they continue “to assess the new precedent set forth last month” by the Supreme Court in tandem with “other Department of Justice components.”
“Although those consultations are well underway, the Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision,” Smith’s office said. “The Government therefore respectfully requests additional time to provide the Court with an informed proposal regarding the schedule for pretrial proceedings moving forward.”
The filing further notes former President Trump’s team did not object to the Special Counsel’s request for a three-week extension, which would also call off a status conference set for Friday of next week and reschedule it at District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s choosing for any time “convenient” after the government’s filing.
The filing is the first clear indication Special Counsel Smith’s office continues to face difficulties in determining how to move forward with its Jan. 6 case against Trump after the Supreme Court’s decision granting immunity for “official acts” taken by a president, while declining to grant immunity for so-called “unofficial acts.”
While Chutkan resumed her control of the case last Friday and set forth a quick briefing schedule, Smith’s team has had more than a month since the Supreme Court handed down its July 1 decision to deliberate on the path forward.
The delay request follows many legal experts’ exasperation over the ambiguity and lack of clarity in the high court’s immunity ruling. They say this could make it difficult for any criminal prosecution of a president to move forward — even separate from Trump’s alleged criminal efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI continued to mishandle tips regarding sexual abuse against children even after the agency promised reforms in the wake of its botched handling of assault allegations against former USA Olympics gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, according to a Justice Department watchdog report released Thursday.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s findings were a result of an extensive audit undertaken in the 16 months after his office released its scathing 2021 report that detailed the FBI’s failures in acting on multiple credible abuse claims against Nassar by athletes under his care. While the report details how the FBI updated its policies and training to handle such tips in the wake of the Nassar report, it found multiple instances where bureau employees failed to properly act on the allegations.
Of nearly 4,000 child sexual abuse cases opened by the FBI between October 2021 and February 2023, the IG’s office reviewed 327 and found 42 cases where investigators had to flag it to the FBI for their “immediate attention,” according to the report.
For those 13% of the cases audited by the IG, the report said, investigators had concerns that varied from a lack of recent investigative activity or referrals to appropriate agencies, leads that were not properly followed up on and, in some instances, clear violations of FBI policy regarding handling sexual abuse claims.
In one specific instance identified in the report, FBI agents failed to follow up on an allegation involving abuse against a minor by a registered sex offender, which led to the offender victimizing at least one additional minor “for a period of approximately 15 months,” the report said.
“After we raised this incident to the FBI’s attention, the FBI took appropriate action, and the subject was indicted on federal charges,” Horowitz said in a taped video statement.
The report further found significant issues regarding FBI agents’ obligation to report allegations of sexual abuse against children to various entities immediately after they are received.
In 47% of incidents reviewed by the IG, they found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements to state and local law enforcement agencies, and in 50% of cases, they found no evidence that they reported the allegations to social services agencies, according to the report.
“Additionally, we found that FBI employees didn’t always comply with FBI policies put in place to protect victims,” the report said. “For example, in the incidents we reviewed, we found 40 percent of the active child sexual abuse allegations did not include evidence that the FBI responded within 24 hours.”
A central issue identified in the IG report was a surge in recent years of claims of child sexual abuse that have caused a strain on FBI resources.
One agent who spoke to the IG said they had been assigned approximately 60 such cases and that the risk of them “falling through the cracks” was in large part due to high agent workloads. But, according to the IG, FBI Headquarters denied requests from all but one of 15 field offices that requested an increase in the number of special agents dedicated to investigating child abuse threats in 2022, and further denied requests from seven of those field offices when they again appealed for help.
In a letter responding to the report released Thursday, the FBI said they “recognize further action is necessary to ensure our corrective measures have the full intended effect of improving the FBI’s handling of allegations of hands-on sex offenses.”
But the bureau also argued that “most of the incidents” flagged by the IG’s office appeared to reflect failures in documentation rather than clear failures in proper investigative actions being taken.
“Ensuring the safety and security of children is not just a priority for the FBI; it is a solemn duty that we are committed to fulfilling with the highest standards,” the FBI said in a statement. “The FBI’s efforts combating crimes against children are among the most critical and demanding undertakings we do. The FBI deeply values the trust the public places in us to protect the most vulnerable members of society. We are committed to maintaining the public’s trust by implementing the necessary improvements to ensure the important changes we made to our Violent Crimes Against Children program in 2018 and 2019 have the intended effect of promoting the highest level of compliance and effectiveness.”
Crimes against children are among the top priorities for the FBI, but the bureau continues to be challenged by an increasing number of sexual abuse tips and has previously failed to take necessary investigative measures, an FBI official acknowledged to reporters on Thursday.
“It’s staggering,” the official said, referring to the growing number of reports as an “overwhelming situation.”
“Any mistake or deficiency is unacceptable and the FBI recognizes that,” the official said.
Thursday’s report is likely to draw further criticism of the bureau and FBI Director Christopher Wray, who in the wake of the Nassar report issued a personal apology to the gymnasts abused by Nassar.
“I am sorry that so many people let you down over and over again and I am especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable,” Wray said in September 2021 congressional testimony. “It never should have happened, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement Thursday that he intends to hold a hearing with the FBI in the coming weeks.
“The FBI’s failures enabling Larry Nassar’s abuse of young victims continue to remain a stain on the Bureau,” Durbin said. “Today’s report shows that new policies implemented by the FBI to address these egregious failures are effectively being ignored, leading to similar abuses as seen in the Nassar investigation. It’s shameful that the FBI is continuing to fail victims.”
Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 in connection with crimes against several victims and was sentenced to 60 years behind bars for child pornography and other charges. He again pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years for multiple counts of sexual assault of minors.