If you’ve spent any time on social media lately, then you may have noticed countless people talking about the recently released Netflix documentary “The Perfect Neighbor.” The story centers around the tragic death of Ajike “AJ” Owens in 2023 and believe us when we tell you– it’s one that will leave you crying angry tears about how things transpired.
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As you probably recall us telling you about at the time, Owens was the Black woman who was shot and killed through a locked, metal door in Florida by her white neighbor Susan Lorincz. The case drew national attention and was yet another jump-off point for conversations about violent race relations and the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground laws. And while coverage of the case was pretty heavy at the time, Netflix’s documentary shed new light on the events that led up to Owens’ death.
Shot almost entirely from police bodycam footage, the film starts out with footage of the first time Lorincz called 911 on Owens’ kids for playing in a field near her house. While she didn’t own that property and the neighbor who was on the other side of the field had already given the kids permission to play on his part the property that was close to the field– Lorincz still clearly had an issue with it.
What would transpire over the next two years would be escalating incidents involving innumerable 911 calls from Lorincz who would claim she was harassed by neighborhood kids. But as shown in the documentary, the opposite proved to be the case.
During one incident, she called the kids “retards.” At one point, she got an air horn and would randomly drive her truck really fast through the neighborhood blaring the horn. And there was one day where she waved a gun at them and threatened them to stop being so loud.
On more than one occasion, Lorincz allegedly recorded the children playing, hurled racial slurs at them, calling them the n-word, slaves, and remarked that they weren’t on “the Underground Railroad.”
But things escalated after Lorincz allegedly threw a pair of roller skates at one of Owens’ sons and took his tablet. As previously instructed, the kids went and got their mother and Owens repeatedly knocked on Lorincz’s door and yelled for her to come outside so they could talk.
That’s when the unthinkable happened.
Lorincz fired off a single gunshot from behind her locked door, striking Owens in the chest and killing her as her young son stood next to her.
After seeing the gut-wrenching reaction from Owens’ kids in the immediate aftermath of her death, Lorincz’s indifference to shooting the mother and her eventual conviction, many took to social media to express their sadness, frustration, and overall heartbroken sentiments over this senseless death.
“Just finished watching The Perfect Neighbor and when the police asked the little boy if he was hurt and he said, “No, but my heart is broken…” The hurt and pain in his voice. My God! And then the father telling her mom then the kids she’s not coming back. I just LOST it,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“I think “The Perfect Neighbor” did a great job of shining a harsh light on a system where some people walk in with the benefit of the doubt, while others carry the weight of suspicion simply because their skin color walks in first,” said another.
“I was no good after watching ‘The Perfect Neighbor.’ Hearing the children of Ajike Owens crying absolutely broke me. Her racist killer needs to be under the jail, I’ve never been so angry watching a documentary,” one other user wrote.
Added another: “#theperfectneighbor on Netflix is proof that even when a black woman is a good mother and raises excellent children, there still will always be a white racist monster bothered by your very existence, by the joyful sounds of your kids playing. Crying because wow.”
One other user noted, “They weren’t kidding back at Sundance with all of tIhe praise for this documentary. The Perfect Neighbor is wild, infuriating, heartbreaking and more. Watch it. It’s a tough one, but important.”
“This “Perfect Neighbor” documentary is a true depiction of how white people get to play victim when they’re the antagonist,” said another.
Lorincz, in August 2024, was found guilty of manslaughter with a firearm, NBC News reported. She’s currently serving a 25-year sentence at the Homestead Correctional Institution in Florida.
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