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The Perfect Neighbor’ Tops Netflix as Bodycam-Only Documentary Reframes AJ Owens’ Killing

Built from police bodycam plus 911 audio released through public‑records requests, the film spotlights renewed scrutiny of Stand Your Ground.

Overview

  • The Netflix release on October 17 quickly reached the streamer’s global No. 1 over the weekend, buoyed by a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, an 85 Metacritic rating, and a Sundance 2025 directing award.
  • The film reconstructs the 2023 shooting of Ajike “AJ” Owens by neighbor Susan Lorincz using police bodycam, CCTV, and 911 recordings, with no narration or talking heads.
  • Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter in August 2024 and received a 25‑year sentence that November; she is incarcerated at Homestead Correctional Institution with an expected release date of April 8, 2048.
  • Owens’ family filed a wrongful‑death lawsuit in 2025 against Lorincz and the property’s landlord, seeking at least $50,000 in damages, with the case still pending.
  • Owens’ children are in their grandmother Pamela Dias’s care and receiving trauma support, and the family’s Standing in the Gap Fund is raising money and advocating changes to Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.