I first became aware of this story from Court TV. This documentary distills a story that unfolds over months into a tight expose of hate and racism and the tragic consequences of one person’s twisted worldview.
Susan Lorincz believed she was the perfect neighbor. All she wanted was to live her life and piece and not be disturbed by the young children playing in the lot next to hers. She called the police on the neighborhood kids numerous times to complain about the kids’ leaving toys on her property and making noise as they played next door. The whole thing unfolds through video caught by police officers wearing body cams.
There is one particular moment in the film that captures the real person behind the nice old lady exterior she tried to display every time police were called out to her home. It only captures a second of time. You’ll know what I am talking about when you see it. It happens midway through the film after a police officer knocks on her window.
You learn at the very beginning of the film that there is a shooting. From that point on viewers learn from a series of bodycam videos what led to the shooting and its aftermath. This story could have made a compelling multi-episode documentary series by following the trial that took place after the shooting. I would have liked to have seen that version. But here the filmmakers decided to let the video speak for itself. All of the information needed to understand the full story takes place through those police encounters both from bodycam video and police interviews of Susan and other witnesses.
There is an Investigation Discovery series called Fear Thy Neighbor that covers the same ground of neighbor disputes that spiral out of control. I watched one not too long ago that ended much like this one with some forethought about stand your ground laws and using the phrase “I feared for my life,” when speaking to police. In both cases the defendant’s version of events differed wildly from what actually took place.
There was one short section of the film that threw me off a bit. In Susan’s version of what took place, she says that the victim, Aijke Owens, was pounding on her door and threatening to kill her. That turned out to not be true. There was, however, a witness who said that Aijke was yelling something to the effect of “come outside, bitch.” If that is the case, and I may have misheard, that does sound very threatening.
The film ends with the filmmakers playing the credits superimposed over Susan receiving the verdict at trial. This is a sad story for everyone involved. Catch this one on Netflix.