Last week I watched the documentary "The Perfect Neighbor" on Netflix. I came across this documentary in a newsletter and the subject was quite intruiging.

This documentary is about conflict in a suburban community in Ocala, Florida. A woman named Susan Lorincz repeatedly calls the police complaining about children making noise and allegedly trespassing. The interesting part is that this documentary mainly exists of body cam footage of the cops showing up on the scenes. This footage gives a view on the relationship between Susan and the rest of the neighbors. The situation escalates when a mother of one of the kids; Ajike Owens, went to Susans house and Susan killed Ajike by shooting through the door. Ajike didn't survive this.

Susan gets arrested and says she was affraid that Ajike was going to kill her, so she shot in self-defence. And in Florida there is a “Stand Your Ground” law.

The documentary ends with the trial agains Susan.

My opinion

It's a real heavy documentary. The real footage makes you experience the emotions fully. Especially the part where the kids get to hear their mother didn't survive. The documentary does give you a lot to think about for instance the Stand your ground law, the amount of weapons in America, racial issues and the role of law enforcement.

The documentary didn't focus on that, but what got me thinking was how can a person get to this point of doing this? Why was there nobody (in her family, in the neighborhood, from law enforcement) that noticed that this was going in the wrong direction and maybe even prevented this disaster.

There are a more examples like this where angry, mostly lonely people snap and see violence as their only way out. With this, I am by no means excusing her actions. But I do think we need to pay attention to these people because these things are happening. And I think they are happening more and more. Especially in countries with laws like stand your ground and where weapons are easily accessible.

If you can stand the emotions, I would recommend you to watch the documentary yourself.

Friendlymoose

I'm an amateur photographer with a love for indoor gardening, craft beer, and cycling. As the owner of the Cycling Community and the creator of the Topcomment initiative, I focus on fostering engagement and bringing like-minded people together. Check out my projects below!

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