Susan Lorincz fatally shot her neighbor, mother of four Ajike 'AJ' Owens, in June 2023
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix; Florida Dept of Corrections
NEED TO KNOW
- Susan Lorincz fatally shot her neighbor, Ajike ‘AJ’ Owens, in June 2023
- Despite alleging that she acted in self-defense, Lorincz was convicted of first-degree felony manslaughter with a firearm
- Lorincz is serving her 25-year sentence at the Homestead Correctional Institution
Susan Lorincz alleged that she acted in self-defense when she shot and killed Ajike “AJ” Owens through her locked front door, but she was later convicted of manslaughter.
Lorincz, a White woman born in 1964, had been feuding with her neighbors since early 2022. She frequently called police and claimed that the neighborhood children were playing in an open field and complained to them about noise and alleged trespassing.
On June 2, 2023, Lorincz confronted one of Owens' four children, who was 10 years old at the time, and allegedly threw a roller skate at him. He told his mom, who was a 35-year-old Black woman, and she went over to Lorincz's home in hopes of talking to her about the situation.
Despite Lorincz's door being locked and Owens not making an attempt to break in, Lorincz grabbed a gun and fired a shot through the door, killing Owens. Lorincz was arrested but maintained that she only fired her gun out of self-defense. She was ultimately convicted of manslaughter after her August 2024 trial.
The case sparked outrage across the country and was retold in the Netflix documentary The Perfect Neighbor, which has been on the streamer since October 2025. It was also the subject of the 20/20 episode titled "The Neighbor from Hell," which premiered on ABC on April 3, 2026.
So where is Susan Lorincz now? Here is everything to know about her arrest, conviction and life in prison in the years since the shooting.
Who is Susan Lorincz?
Credit: Netflix
Lorincz rented an apartment in Ocala, Fla., a city about 60 miles northwest of Orlando. While living in the building, she reportedly developed a reputation for harassing neighborhood children and directing racial slurs toward them, according to NBC News.
Lorincz allegedly had an issue with local children playing in an open field between apartment buildings. Neighbors reported that Lorincz would record the children when they were playing, call them racial slurs and other derogatory terms, wave guns at them and file reports with the police, per NBC News.
“Everybody in this neighborhood has feuded with this lady over our children,” one local resident, Phyllis Wills, told NBC News.
But Lorincz reportedly developed a particularly contentious relationship with Owens and her four children. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods revealed that between January 2021 and June 2023, authorities responded to at least six calls related to Owens and Lorincz, the Associated Press reported.
What did Susan Lorincz do?
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
On the evening of June 2, 2023, Owens’ children were playing in the open field near Lorincz’s apartment. According to The New York Times, she reportedly began arguing with the children and threw a roller skate at Owens’ then-10-year-old son, hitting him in the toe. Lorincz was also reportedly overheard yelling at the children and seen waving an umbrella at them.
Lorincz called the police on the children, telling the 911 dispatcher that they were trespassing on her property and that one of the kids had threatened to beat her up.
“Just screaming, yelling, just being absolutely obnoxious,” she said about the children, according to the 911 tape obtained by PEOPLE. “I went and threw the roller skate over to the other side, the kid says he’s going to beat me up for that, and he’s mouthing off to me. I feel threatened in my own home.”
Asked if the 10-year-old boy was still out there, Lorincz responded: “There are several kids out there right now. I’m fearing for my life. I’m very scared.”
Meanwhile, Owens’ children had alerted her to what had happened. Owens, accompanied by her 10-year-old son, went to Lorincz’s apartment to confront her over the incident. Owens knocked on the door several times and demanded that Lorincz come outside. Lorincz then fired a single shot through the locked door, fatally striking Owens in the upper chest.
What crimes was Susan Lorincz charged with?
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Lorincz was initially not arrested or charged following the shooting death of Owens. Due to Florida’s “stand your ground” law, individuals have the right to defend themselves with force if they feel their lives are in danger. Therefore, authorities first needed to determine “whether deadly force was justified or not before we make an arrest,” Sheriff Woods told The New York Times.
The investigation included interviews with Lorincz, Owens’ children and other eyewitnesses. Lorincz reportedly told authorities that she acted in self-defense and alleged that Owens had previously attacked her and was trying to break down her door before the shooting.
But Lorincz also admitted in her interviews with police to “having used the n-word toward children out of anger in the past and also to calling children other derogatory terms,” according to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
Through their investigation, authorities were able to determine “that Lorincz’s actions were not justifiable under Florida law.”
As a result, Lorincz was arrested on June 7, 2023, and charged with manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault. However, despite pleas from Owens’ family, Lorincz was not charged with second-degree murder, a first-degree felony.
State Attorney William “Bill” Gladson said in a statement that there was “insufficient evidence” to prove the elements needed for a murder charge.
What happened at Susan Lorincz’s trial?
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Lorincz’s trial began in August 2024, according to the AP. During the course of the trial, which only lasted a few days, her lawyers argued that she was acting in self-defense — alleging that Owens was pounding and cursing at her door and threatening to kill her, causing her to panic, The New York Times reported.
The prosecution, however, highlighted that Owens was unarmed and that Lorincz’s door was locked. After two hours of deliberation, the jury found Lorincz guilty of manslaughter. The charge carried a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
“This case is undoubtedly a tragic reminder of the devastating consequences of gun violence,” Gladson, the state’s prosecutor, said in the news release. “The defendant’s choices have left four young children without their mother, a loss that will be felt for the rest of their lives.”
Gladson added, “While today’s verdict can’t bring AJ back, we hope it brings some measure of justice and peace to her family and friends.”
What was Susan Lorincz’s sentence?
Credit: Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette via AP
Three months later, in November 2024, Lorincz was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting Owens through a door.
At her sentencing hearing, the defense called Lorincz’s sister and an expert in psychological trauma to testify on her behalf, CNN reported. Lorincz’s sister testified that they both were abused as children and were raised in a household with a history of mental illness and addiction. Additionally, Dr. Yenys Castillo testified that Lorincz suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of sexual and other abuse.
However, Judge Robert Hodges stated that any abuse Lorincz suffered in the past was not a mitigating factor in what he described as a “very aggravated manslaughter.”
"I find that the shooting was completely unnecessary,” the judge said in the Marion County courtroom. “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.”
“She was in a relatively safe position,” the judge continued. “For some reason, she went into her room and found a gun. She could have stayed in the room and put another locked door between her and Ms. Owens, but she came back out, put herself in front of the door, and at the time she fired the gun through the door, she was safe.”
Lorincz, who did not testify in her trial, addressed the court for the first time at her sentencing. “I am so sorry I took AJ’s life. I never intended to kill her,” she said.
However, Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, felt Lorincz’s courtroom apology was insincere. “She never showed remorse,” she told reporters, per CNN.
Where is Susan Lorincz now?
Credit: Florida Dept of Corrections
Lorincz is currently serving her 25-year sentence at the Homestead Correctional Institution in South Florida, according to her inmate record. Her release date is set for Feb. 18, 2048, per the Florida Department of Corrections.
Lorincz spoke out for the first time since her arrest, conviction and incarceration in a September 2025 interview with the local ABC affiliate WCJB. In the interview, she alleged that both Owens and her children had threatened to kill her on the day she fatally shot the mother of four.
“I was terrified,” she said. “I just never, ever thought in a million years this would happen, and it just, it breaks my heart. I can’t take it back. I can’t replace her.”
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