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Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ Puts AJ Owens Killing Back in the Spotlight

The release refocuses attention on police‑recorded evidence, spotlighting how Florida’s Stand Your Ground framework shaped the case.

Overview

  • The documentary, now streaming on Netflix, tells the 2023 Ocala shooting almost entirely through police bodycam footage and 911 audio.
  • Footage and case records detail how Susan Lorincz shot Ajike “AJ” Owens through a locked door after a dispute involving neighborhood children and a tablet.
  • Detectives challenged Lorincz’s account, noting only two minutes elapsed between her first 911 call and the fatal shot, and she later admitted using a racial slur toward local children.
  • Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter on Aug. 16, 2024, sentenced to 25 years on Nov. 25, 2024, and is serving at Homestead Correctional Institution; an appeal was filed in January 2025.
  • Investigators cited Lorincz’s searches about Stand Your Ground laws before the shooting, and the film renews scrutiny of the law’s application and documented racial disparities.