Most of the time, going over to a neighbor’s house should be a pleasant and normal experience. But in the case of Ajike Owens and Susan Lorincz, it was anything but that.
The Netflix documentary, “The Perfect Neighbor,” explores what really happened the night that Lorincz wrongfully killed Owens.
The documentary was filmed using body cam and CCTV footage from local enforcement at the time of the incident, giving the audience real-life insight and allowing them to hear from fellow neighbors and witnesses.
While the footage didn’t capture the exact moment that Lorincz shot Owens through her locked front door, it showed the build-up to the shooting and the increasing hostility Lorincz had towards her neighbors, leaving the audience feeling enraged at her selfish final decision. This authentic, fly-on-the-wall view of the crimes hooks viewers in a way re-enactments could not.
According to multiple neighbors and their children, Lorincz was a bully, calling the children in the neighborhood both racial and mental slurs along with being plain disrespectful to anyone who dared to look at her wrong.
In the scenes where the police talked to Owens, she was always calm and reasonable, unlike Lorincz, who was accusatory and harsh.
The recording provided grips the audience with immersion. The night of the incident, the recording of Lorincz’s 911 call is played, with her sounding panicked and hyperventilating as she explains the situation, which in her mind played out like this; Owens was violently pounding on her door and screaming about an altercation Lorincz had previously had with Izzy, Owens’s son so Lorincz fired her gun through the door out of fear, claiming it was self-defense.
While the outrage from the community was heard loud and clear by enforcements, Lorincz’s arrest was delayed because of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which, by definition states, “A person is justified in using or threatening to use force…to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force.”
However, after a later court date was scheduled, Lorincz was found guilty of manslaughter, with Owens’s family members and neighbors shown in the audience, smiling through their tears, grateful that Lorincz was rightfully accused and punished for her actions.
As for the community and the audience, frustration and grief were felt by all, some experiencing the heartbreak in person while others felt it through the screen.
The ending scene shows a touching moment where Israel, Ajike’s son, tells the camera that his mom had appeared in his dream that night as an angel, making the audience feel the palpable grief that comes with losing a family member.
While the community mourned the loss of Owens and the unfairness of it all, her family and neighbors continue to honor her name every day and remember her as the kind, loving, and maternal person she was. You can watch, “The Perfect Neighbor” on Netflix.