The Perfect Neighbor Documentary Ending Defined: What Occurred to Susan Lorincz?

For filmmakers and life companions Geeta Gandbhir and Nikon Kwantu and producer Alisa Payne, creating as a collective felt preordained. Long earlier than they knew one another’s work, they had been in neighborhood with each other as dad and mom whose kids attended the identical preschool. While they might not have realized it till a lot later in friendship, the trio had been all storytellers in their very own proper: Payne, a producer of highly effective documentaries just like the Emmy and NAACP Image Award–nominated Stamped from the Beginning; Kwantu, with twenty years of expertise as a multimedia, movie, and animation producer; and Gandbhir, a director mentored by Sam Pollard and Spike Lee, who she collaborated with as an editor on When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which might earn her her first Emmy Award. They had been united by their drive to inform tales that sought out unseen views, nevertheless it was an unlucky connection to devastating tragedy that led to their newest documentary challenge, The Perfect Neighbor.

One evening in June of 2023, Kwantu’s relative Takema Robinson, a social justice activist, reached out to him and Gandbhir in regards to the devastating killing of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a household buddy and beloved mom of 4 who was elevating her kids in a tight-knit neighborhood in Ocala, Florida. Owens was fatally shot by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz, over a seemingly minor dispute gone mistaken, one rooted in Lorincz’s frustration with kids taking part in in a area exterior her residence. “This shocking crime left my family and me engulfed in grief and confusion,” says Gandbhir. “Ajike’s community was tight-knit, rooted in mutual support and trust. It was heartbreaking to witness how such a close environment could unravel so catastrophically.” Gandbhir, Kwantu, and Payne quickly visited Florida with a mission of supporting the household and bringing consciousness to the mindless killing, as Lorincz was not initially arrested by native legislation enforcement. “The Perfect Neighbor is one of those films that we say we wish that we didn’t have to make,” Payne says.

What occurs within the documentary?

Directed by Gandbhir and produced by Kwantu, Payne and Sam Bisbee (Daughters), the documentary is advised nearly fully by police physique digicam footage, inspecting the day-to-day goings-on of a neighborhood that always feels as if it exists in a bygone period. “The neighbors genuinely cared for one another. There was a significant bond between the families,” displays Pamela Dias, Owens’s mom. “We have children growing up together, playing together as they should. Family was at the very cornerstone of the neighborhood, and that’s what made that community very special and a unique place to live.” 

Sometimes, the youngsters’s video games would unfold past their very own lawns and right into a vacant lot situated subsequent to Lorincz’s residence, a house that stood in distinction to the encircling residents. “Susan was such an outlier in this community,” says Kwantu. “When there’s a conflict in any way, she’s going to call the police.” Lorincz referred to as legislation enforcement on the children quite a few instances over time, however the officers initially appeared to facet with the youngsters and their households; in the meantime, Lorincz grew to become more and more combative towards her neighbors. That aggression culminated in a catastrophic encounter by which she shot Owens. The Perfect Neighbor is an modern and intimate have a look at the escalating tensions inside a neighborhood poisoned by prejudice. 

That intimate entry is culled from hours of physique digicam footage and audio recordings, which the filmmakers had been in a position to make use of due to a Freedom of Information Act request made by attorneys for Owens’s household, in an effort to make clear how a battle over youngsters taking part in in a yard may have led to a mindless killing. “There was a lot of footage, and you don’t know what you’re looking at, you don’t know the sequence,” says Kwantu. “You’re watching something that goes from normal to not so normal to ‘Wait, where’s this going?’. When I looked at it, I was just like, ‘I think this is the film.’”

The filmmakers approached Dias about the potential for turning it right into a documentary, with a mission of bringing extra consciousness and visibility to her daughter’s killing. “I went to Pamela and asked her, is this something she would want to pursue? And she said, yes,” remembers Gandbhir. “I think the trust was built probably along the way, because we were working together to make sure there was some sort of justice for Ajike.” Dias provides: “When Geeta initially approached me about sharing the documentary, at that time I was very much consumed by grief. We didn’t know what was going to happen, but with the prospect of a film, it gave my heart a sense of comfort, and it lightened a little bit of the burden that I was carrying. I actually had something that I could hold onto other than grief.”

What are “stand your ground” legal guidelines?

As they had been making The Perfect Neighbor, the filmmakers awaited justice for Owens alongside Dias. Ocala, the town Owens and her 4 kids referred to as residence, is lower than two hours away from Sanford, the place in 2012, the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was acquitted, claiming self-defense; the trial referred to as consideration to Florida’s “stand your ground” legislation, which permits people to make use of lethal pressure in the event that they really feel their lives are in peril, even when they’ll retreat to security and they’re exterior their properties. 

Laws like this one now exist in a single kind or one other in additional than half of the states within the US, nevertheless it was Florida’s that attracted the utmost scrutiny after Zimmerman’s acquittal in 2013. A decade later, the killing of Owens ignited the same nationwide probing of the catastrophic and problematic legal guidelines that disproportionately have an effect on Black individuals. “Hopefully through [Owens’s] legacy we can fight ‘stand your ground’ and other harmful policies,” says Payne. “It was very apparent on the other side of [Susan’s] calls, there were these great people. These are people who are parents raising their children.” 

Who is Ajike “AJ” Owens? 

“Ajike Owens was a devoted mother of four and a cherished family friend who lived in Ocala, Florida,” Gandbhir says. The movie facilities Owens by household testimony, photographs, and on a regular basis scenes that outline her position at residence and within the neighborhood. Friends and kin describe a protecting mum or dad who intervened when her kids reported disputes along with her neighbor, Lorincz. 

At its core, The Perfect Neighbor is a portrait of a vibrant, caring mom, immortalizing Owens’s heat and unfading spirit. “It means everything to honor her legacy,” says Dias. “My daughter always would say the world would know her name, and The Perfect Neighbor has made her word come true. Her legacy lives on, and the world will know her name.”

Does the movie present the taking pictures of Ajike Owens?

No. There is not any video footage of the second the gun is fired. The movie reconstructs occasions earlier than and after utilizing interviews, 911 audio, and on-scene police body-camera footage. Viewers see the neighborhood setting, hear pressing requires assist, and watch the police and EMS response.

What occurred to Susan Lorincz?

In the documentary, which begins within the fall of 2022, neighbor Susan Lorincz calls in complaints to police about native kids taking part in noisily and leaving trash on the vacant lot beside her residence. These frequent calls to authorities and statements are documented by legislation enforcement’s physique cameras, which the movie makes use of to point out the escalation of Lorincz’s complaints. 

These 911 calls continued till June 2, 2023, when Lorincz reported that Owens was making an attempt to interrupt down her door and threatening her life. Just two minutes later, Lorincz referred to as again to report she had shot Owens by the door. Despite life-saving efforts by emergency responders, Owens was later pronounced lifeless at a hospital. Her dying — and the truth that authorities waited days to arrest Lorincz whereas they investigated whether or not her actions met the standards of Florida’s “stand your ground” legislation — sparked outrage in the area people. 

After the five-day investigation, the sheriff’s division arrested Lorincz on June 7, 2023. She was charged with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery, and two counts of assault. In 2024, Lorincz was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 25 years in prison. 

The Perfect Neighbor premiered on the Sundance Film Festival the place Gandbhir took residence the U.S. Documentary Directing Award. Now Gandbhir, Kwantu, and Payne intention to achieve a a lot wider viewers, with their movie’s pressing examination of the attitudes and insurance policies that proceed to inflict devastating penalties on communities. “I hope to inspire a deeper understanding of the consequences of these laws and advocate for changes that can prevent more senseless tragedies in the future,” Gandbhir says. Dias additionally hopes the movie will assist audiences totally perceive the “bigger, broader picture” by its emotional storytelling. 

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A model of this characteristic initially appeared in Issue 21 of Tudum Magazine.