ABC's '20/20' episode "The Neighbor From Hell" revisits AJ Owens' murder
Credit: Ajike Shantrell Owens/Facebook ; Courtesy of Netflix
NEED TO KNOW
- Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens was a 35-year-old single mother of four when she was shot and killed by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz, in 2023
- Lorincz had previously complained about and called 911 on Owens’ children
- ABC’s 20/20 episode “The Neighbor From Hell,” which premiered April 3, revisits AJ Owens’ murder
Two years of tension between Susan Lorincz and her Florida neighbor, Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens, ended in tragedy.
Starting in January 2021, Lorincz — who is White — made at least six 911 calls complaining about children in her neighborhood, including concerns about Owens’ four young children, who are Black, per CBS News.
Tensions escalated on June 2, 2023, when Lorincz got into a heated confrontation with two of Owens’ children. When Owens went to Lorincz’s home to confront her, Lorincz fired a gun through her locked door — despite knowing police were already on the way following an earlier 911 call. Owens was struck by the bullet and died later that night.
Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter on Aug. 16, 2024, but for Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, justice has not been served.
"Justice would be this never happening from the get-go,” she told members of the media on the one-year anniversary of her daughter’s death, per Central Florida Public Media. “Justice would be eradicating racism. Justice would be proper gun-reform laws.”
Netflix's The Perfect Neighbor, which debuted in October 2025, retold the tragic story through police bodycam footage. The case is now the subject of ABC's 20/20 episode "The Neighbor From Hell," which premiered on April 3.
Here’s what to know about AJ Owens' murder.
Who was AJ Owens?
Credit: Netflix
Owens was a 35-year-old mother of four children: Isaac, Afrika, Titus and Israel.
“To say she loved her children unconditionally is an understatement,” a GoFundMe organized by Dias read. “She was a single mother whose life centered around her children.”
According to the GoFundMe page, Owens served as the “Team Mom” for her children’s sports teams. She also worked as a restaurant manager.
The Perfect Neighbor director Geeta Gandbhir, who was family friends with Owens, said that she “had a lot of big dreams.”
“She wanted to be an entrepreneur and she used to always talk about how the whole world one day will know my name,” the filmmaker explained while accepting the film’s U.S. Documentary Directing Albie Award. “It feels a bit like what we are doing now — we see it as fulfilling her dream.”
What happened to AJ Owens?
Credit: Netflix
Owens was shot and killed by Lorincz on June 2, 2023, following an altercation that occurred between the woman and Owens’ children.
According to Dias, her grandchildren were playing in a public field near Lorincz’s home when she allegedly began to call them racist slurs. “[She] said, ‘This is not the Underground Railroad, you slaves,' ” Owens’ mother claimed on a June 2023 episode of The View. A detective claimed in the arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE that Lorincz had previously admitted to calling the children slurs.
Owens’ children left the field, but left a tablet behind, which they alleged Lorincz then picked up, per CNN. When the children asked Lorincz to return the tablet, she denied taking it and threw a roller skate in the direction of Owens’ son, which struck him in the toe, according to an affidavit obtained by CNN.
The arrest affidavit also stated that Lorincz swung an umbrella at another of Owens’ sons, who allegedly approached her front door yelling, “You want to throw something, throw it at me!”
At that point, Owens became involved, approaching Lorincz’s home with her son. “[Owens] … knocked on Lorincz’s door multiple times and demanded that Lorincz come outside,” the arrest affidavit read. “Lorincz then fired one shot through the door, striking Owens in her upper chest.”
According to witnesses, Owens stumbled from the porch and yelled for someone to call 911 before collapsing.
“[Police] found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound and immediately rendered aid until medics could arrive, but unfortunately, Miss Owens passed," Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said during a June 2023 news conference. Woods stated that at least two of Owens’ children may have witnessed the shooting.
Dias later claimed on The View that Lorincz told the boy to bring his mother over. "She created this situation, she wanted it to happen," she alleged. "[Owens] was met with a bullet through a locked metal door with her 9-year-old son standing next to her.”
Added Dias: "The 9-year-old feels as if he hadn't left his tablet, his mother would still be here.”
What did Susan Lorincz say about the shooting?
Credit: Netflix
In the two years preceding the shooting, Lorincz had regularly complained about and called 911 on Owens' children. During her June 2 call, she told the dispatcher she felt “threatened” by the kids.
The insurance company worker later claimed that she became fearful when one of Owens’ children allegedly threatened her life. “There were three boys, and they were very close to my sidewalk, and they had their skates around and stuff,” she said in a September 2025 interview from prison. “I had fallen over a skate, and I said, ‘Guys pick up your skates,’ and they’re like, ‘No.’ ”
When Lorincz allegedly repeated her request to pick up the skates, she claims that one of Owens’ sons said, “'I’m going to kill you. If I can’t kill you, I’m going to find someone to kill you.’ ”
She expressed a similar sentiment on a 911 call on the day of the shooting. “I feel threatened in my own home,” Lorincz said. “There are several kids out there right now. I’m fearing for my life. I’m very scared.”
In a second call to 911, Lorincz claimed that Owens was trying to “break down” her door. “I shot through the door,” she said on the call, per CNN. “The woman was screaming and yelling at me … I didn’t know what to do. I grabbed my gun and shot at the door because I thought she was going to kill me.”
According to CNN, Lorincz alleged to deputies that Owens had also verbally threatened her life. Woods said in a press conference that Lorincz had been complaining about and involved the authorities with Owens' children since Jan. 16, 2021, with "six to eight" incidents reported to law enforcement.
The arrest affidavit revealed that neighbors told police that Lorincz called in “false reports.” The affidavit states: “[The neighbor] advised that Lorincz is known to harass the children by video recording them with her phone as they play in the open field between the apartment buildings and that Lorincz believes that area belongs to her."
According to the affidavit, Lorincz admitted to “having used the n-word toward children out of anger in the past and also to calling children other derogatory terms.”
What happened to Susan Lorincz after she shot AJ Owens?
Credit: Netflix
Lorincz was found guilty of manslaughter on Aug. 16, 2024.
“Through their investigation – including obtaining the statements of eyewitnesses … detectives were able to establish that Lorincz’s actions were not justifiable under Florida law,” the sheriff’s office said ahead of her trial.
Judge Robert Hodges called the crime “completely unnecessary” at Lorincz’s sentencing hearing, during which she received 25 years in prison.
“In this case, Ms. Lorincz was behind the door. The door was locked. She had already called law enforcement. They were en route. She knew they were en route,” the judge said, per ABC. “She was in a relatively safe position. For some reason, she went into her room and found a gun."
Lorincz expressed remorse during the trial, stating, “I am so sorry I took AJ’s life. I never intended to kill her,” to which Dias responded, “Susan’s apology was a last-ditch attempt to save herself. It wasn’t sincere; she never showed remorse.”
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