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An angry mother was killed by an angry racist person on June 3, 2023. The Perfect Neighbor, the latest documentary on Netflix, is based on a true story about this particular incident. Filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, who was close to the victim's family, has directed it.
The persons involved in the original case were Ajike "A.J." Shantrell Owens, a 35-year-old mother, and Susan Louise Lorincz, a 58-year-old woman. The former was the victim and the latter was the shooter, who is currently serving a much-deserved prison sentence.
Following the shooting, the stand-your-ground law, which is applicable in the state of Florida, where the incident featured in The Perfect Neighbor took place, became a subject of debate.
The title comes from Susan Lorincz's claim, as she addressed herself as "the perfect neighbor" to the police. On that note, if perfect neighbors are like that, the world is better off with imperfect neighbors.
The true story behind The Perfect Neighbor
In the incident that actually happened, Ajike Owens was shot by Susan Lorincz after she came banging at her door because Susan had misbehaved with Owens' children.
Susan accused these children of being trespassers, which was just before Owens arrived, unbeknownst to her that it would be her last conflict with whom we can only describe as a madwoman.
The 58-year-old had placed a phone call to the authorities to file a report for "trespassing" and shot Owens from behind her closed door after that. She claimed this act to be an act of self-defense, but failed to prove it in court.
Lorincz was always bitter toward Black people living in the neighborhood, especially Owen's children, and admitted that she is a racist who used the "n-word" and the term "Black slaves" for Owen's children before.
When this incident happened, Owens' child was with her, and it could have turned worse if Susan's anger had prompted her to fire more shots here and there.
Pamela Dias, the mother of Ajike Owens, had a question that is still seeking answers. She told reporters that,
"When does a person get shot for knocking on a door?"
Lorincz was given a 25-year prison sentence for the killing of Ajike Owens, which she is currently serving at Florida's Homestead Correctional Institution.
What did The Perfect Neighbor director say about the documentary?
Geeta Gandbhir told TIME regarding The Perfect Neighbor that,
"If we don't bear witness to crimes like this, if we turn away, if we don't shine a light on them, they will continue in the dark."
She went on to say that,
"The police don't have to come in guns blazing and beating people to still have failed the community. If you can pick up a gun to solve a trivial dispute with your neighbor, what else are you capable of?"
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If we look at the statistics involving gun violence, Pew Research notes in one of its articles that 17,927 murders that occurred in 2023 were all gun-related deaths in the United States.
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