Copyright Us Weekly
The cousin of Ajike “AJ” Owens is speaking out amid the soaring popularity of the Netflix documentary The Perfect Neighbor, which chronicles the events leading up to Owens’ 2023 death in her Ocala, Florida, neighborhood. “Telling everyone I’m ok after I just relived my cousin’s death,” Owens’ cousin Gablet wrote over a video posted via TikTok on Sunday, October 19. “(I’ve been in tears since yesterday).” The Perfect Neighbor released on Netflix on October 10. The 97-minute film is made mostly of police body cam footage captured in the two years before AJ was fatally shot by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. The mother of four was 35. The documentary shows police responding numerous times to calls from Lorincz, then 58, complaining about AJ’s children. The shooting occurred while AJ was allegedly knocking at Lorincz’s door, attempting to confront her neighbor about an earlier incident in which Lorincz allegedly threw a pair of roller skates at one of the kids. Lorincz claimed that she feared for her life and fired a shot through the locked door, which struck and killed AJ. Gablet followed up in a later post, explaining that the documentary is “not for your enjoyment or entertainment.” “It’s a story that is meant to make you uncomfortable,” she said. “It’s a story that tells itself. I see a lot of people on here saying that they can’t watch the movie; it’s Black trauma porn. The goal is to raise awareness.” She continued, “You know that name you may or may not know very well: Emmett Till and how his mother was posing with him at the coroner’s office. His face beaten beyond recognition. He literally was 12 years old. Y’all want to talk about somebody being too young to die. This is the reality for Black people in America. It’s just how it is.” The shooting sparked debate over Florida’s stand-your-ground law, which allows an individual to use deadly force if they reasonably believe they are threatened. It also furthered the national conversation about race in the United States. Lorincz, who is white, admitted to using racial slurs toward AJ’s children during the confrontations before the shooting. “But that documentary is showing you a very grim reality for people like me, and maybe you, who are subjected to this and could be subjected to it literally every day,” Gablet said. “So yes, while it’s heartbreaking, it might be hard to watch. Imagine living through it. We are literally saying, ‘Look. Look!’ How many more times are Black American families just gonna have to say, ‘look?’ Something’s gotta give.” Lorincz was arrested four days after the shooting and charged with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault. With Lorincz claiming self defense, the case went to trial and in August 2024, a jury found her guilty of manslaughter. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison. “I am so sorry I took AJ’s life. I never intended to kill her,” Lorincz said at sentencing, per ABC News. “I am just profoundly sad. Not only did a mother die, but a daughter, a sister. I think of your family’s loss and know how hard it is to lose someone you love.”
