Florida's ‘Perfect Neighbor’ Wants to Sue Kids of Woman She Killed

I'm not trying to be a but you know it's. not funny. >> I hate her. She's doing jail for good. >> The Florida woman who gunned down her. neighbor through her front door in a. dispute over noisy neighborhood kids. wants to sue her victim's children for. defamation. The subject of Netflix's. Perfect Neighbor documentary is standing. by her story that a mother of four was. threatening to kill her as she beat on.

her door, leaving her no choice but. [music] to fire through it. So now, as. she sits behind bars for at least the. next couple of decades, [music]. she is facing a wrongful death lawsuit. from the family. And she says she wants. to counters sue. We're going to break. down the lawsuit and what could happen. next with the lawyer for the deceased. woman's estate. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Obviously, this is a story we wanted to. put a spotlight on. It's important to. cover, okay? And the reason that we can.

do that is because of the amazing. support that we get from our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan. We're talking about. America's largest personal injury law. firm, a firm with over a thousand. attorneys. They have recovered $25. billion for more than 500,000 clients. In the past few months alone, a client. in Florida received $12 million when. insurance offered just $350,000. Out in. Pennsylvania, another client was awarded. $26 million. That is 40 times the. insurers's offer. Morgan and Morgan, they make it easy to fight for what you. deserve. You can even start a claim from.

your phone. So, if you're injured, you. can start a claim at. forthepeople.com/lcsidebar. You can click the link below or you can. scan the QR code on screen. An already controversial story has taken. yet another shocking turn. Susan. Laurren, the woman convicted of killing. her neighbor, who insisted that the. shooting was justified, filed a. handwritten response to a wrongful death. lawsuit. And despite a jury determining. that the then 58-year-old committed.

manslaughter when she fired a pistol. through the closed locked door of her. apartment, Lorence continues to claim. that she was in fear for her life and. had no choice but to shoot. And I'm. going to get into that letter in a. minute. By the way, some people say. Lawrence, some people say Lorent. We're. going to go with Lorence. Okay, going. back to the night of the shooting. This. heartbreaking body cam footage from that. night. It was the focus of Netflix is. the perfect neighbor. This documentary. which dominated the streaming services. charts for weeks. >> Baby, wake up.

>> Wake up. Wake up. Baby, wake up. Baby, wake up. Hold on. Hey. Wake up. >> We need We need to do CPR REAL QUICK. >> BABY, WAKE UP. CPR. >> HEY, WAKE UP. >> LET ME SEE. Do we have any P? >> So, according to multiple witnesses, 35-year-old mother of four, [snorts]. Aika AJ Owens, went over to Lorence's. apartment on June 2nd, 2023. She. apparently banged on her door demanding. that Lorence come out and speak with. her. Because, you see, Lorren had. reportedly taken AJ's son's iPad, even.

threw a roller skate at him for. allegedly trespassing. But instead of. speaking with AJ, Lince fired one shot. through the door and it hit AJ in the. chest and she died. When 911 calls. started flooding in that there had been. a shooting, Marian County deputies, they. were actually already on the way. And. that's because Loren had called dispatch. in the minutes before the shooting, claiming she was in fear for her life. because of the kids playing in a field. near her house. >> I left my iPad over there cuz we were. playing games. I went to get it. She.

said, I said, "Give me my iPad to her.". She threw the. If y'all were here when it happened, just stand right here so I know who was. out here when it happened. Okay. >> I left my iPad over there cuz we was. playing games and um I went to go get. it. I said, "Give me my iPad cuz she had. it. She dropped it, tried to throw the. skates at me." And um I I I. got my brother. He said, "Come hit me. with the skates." And then um.

>> All right, bud. Give me a minute. Just. hang out by my car. Okay. >> Fucking she's been doing that. >> Damn. And the kids was over there. They. weren't even over here. >> So when Marian County Sheriff's deputies. responded to this chaotic situation, most of them were already familiar with. the address. Lorent had called them.

about the children playing near her. apartment again and again and again. >> Well, I mean, as long as they're not on. your property. I mean, they can pretty. much play wherever they want to play. >> And I want you guys to run around hoot. and holler all all you can because I'd. rather see you guys outside playing than. on them Tik Toks. All right. >> Right. >> So, hoot and holler all you want, but if. someone asks you to quiet down, bring it. down a notch. Okay. Nicely. She come up.

here for sure. >> Hey, you retard. Stop yelling. >> Yeah. If she starts screaming at you. guys, I want you to go tell an adult. Okay. I don't want you to antagonize. her. Okay. >> You don't have sole control over the. parking lot. There's four people here. >> Yeah. But those children don't live. here. I mean, they literally live across. the street on the other side. They. >> I understand what you're telling me and. I get it, >> but you don't have sole power to say, "Hey, they can't be in this parking. lot." She's also the only one.

>> that ever calls. >> You know what, deputies? They responded. to at least six calls in relation to. this dispute, this feud between Susan. Lorence and AJ in the months before the. deadly shooting. And there wasn't much. they could do except, you know, take a. report, warn the kids not to be too. wild. And despite what she might have. thought, that grassy area next to. Loren's apartment was not part of her. property. and no trespassing signs and. warnings from deputies didn't mean much. Well, several days after AJ died and.

after at least two interviews with. police, Susan Lorren was arrested and. charged with manslaughter with a. firearm. She has always maintained that. AJ and her children had made threats. against her. And this is despite. witnesses saying they had never heard. anything like that. When she went to. trial in 2024, it took a jury only a. couple of hours to return with a guilty. verdict. The judge sentenced her to. spend 25 years behind bars and she's. been locked up ever since. But now we. got to talk about what just happened. Okay. Months after the trial wrapped up,

AJ's mom, Pamela Das, filed a wrongful. death lawsuit on behalf of her. daughter's estate. Now, the suit wasn't. just filed against Susan Lorent. It. names a codefendant, Charles Gabbard. Who's he? Well, Charles Gabbard was. apparently the landlord of the. apartments where Lorren and AJ lived. He. told investigators that Susan Lorence. would often complain to him about the. children being unruly outside her. windows. So, she demanded he put up no. trespassing signs, which he did at her. property line, but he didn't have any.

say over that grassy area. Now, Pamela. laid out what happened to her daughter. on that day in 2023, and why she. believes Susan Lorent should pay up as. part of the consequences for her. actions. When it comes to Gabbard, this. is what the complaint had to say. quote, "Charles Gabbard had actual or. constructive control of the premises and. knowledge of the history of erroneous. allegations made to the Marian County. Sheriff's Office by defendant Susan. Elarence against the deedent, Miss.

Owens, and her children. Moreover, defendant Charles Gabbard knew and or. should have known that there was a. propensity for gross negligent conduct. and or intentional harm by defendant. Susan Lorent, which unreasonably exposed. the deedent and her children to. unreasonable dangerous condition on the. premises which was likely to cause harm. So Pamela is looking for specific. damages including past and future mental. pain and suffering of AJ's children, the.

expense of medical care at the end of. AJ's life, funeral arrangements, loss of. AJ's future potential earnings, and now. now we have to talk about something. We. have to talk about the fact that Susan. Lorren has responded to this lawsuit. from behind bars. So let me be clear, it's not an attorney doing this. It's. her. She is actually physically writing. back. And she's not only responding, she. is looking to counter sue. She sent a. handwritten letter to the court laying. out her intentions. And in that.

correspondence, she holds fast to the. same assertion she always has, that she. had to kill AJ before AJ killed her. The. document reads, "In response to general. allegations, Ajaka Owens and her. children were trespassing. There were. multiple no trespassing signs on the. property. Miss Owens did in fact scream, "Threatened to beat me multiple times. while trespassing." Miss Owens was. instructed to stay off the property. along with her children multiple times. by the county sheriff's department. Miss. Owens did not knock politely and speak.

reasonably on June 2nd, 2023. She. pounded and screamed profanities like a. lunatic. Miss Owen's children had lied. to her and stated, "I hit her child with. a roller skate." During his encounter. with the prosecutors, Bucksman and. Smith, that child recanted that the. roller skate hit him and only came near. him. Assault and battery charges were. dropped. Now, to be clear, none of AJ's. children testify during the trial. They. did do interviews with police and. pre-trial depositions with the.

attorneys. So, Lent writes, quote, "In. depositions, all the children told. different stories about their location. at the time of the shooting." One child. was over 60 ft away at the mailboxes. And Lorent also returned to a story that. she's repeated time and time again that. AJ had once thrown a yard sign at her. after becoming frustrated over repeated. issues with Lent. So Lorence writes, quote, "The female juvenile who. testified at trial stated she was an. eyewitness to Ajaka Owens throwing a. metal sign and seeing said sign strike.

me in the leg. I was 7 weeks. post-operative for my neck fusion." And. Susan Lorent also referred to another. juvenile named Uriel who provided his. recollections to the court, writing, quote, "Yuriel testified in his. depositions that Miss Owens would come. onto my sidewalk by the patio and. threatened to fight me. He testified she. was trying to scare me so that I would. stop calling Marian County Sheriff's.". One child also testified that his. brother struck Miss Lince with a water. bottle in his depositions. I now wish to.

counter sue for slander, liable, and. defamation of character for damages in. excess of $50,000. And she also indicated that she wanted. to sue the landlord, Charles Gabbard, as. well for quote not securing the property. correctly and allowing Miss Owens and. her children for harassment, physical. threats of harm, and mental duress. Now, okay, so right now I'm joined by Anthony. Thomas, who is the lawyer for AJ Owens. Estate. Uh Anthony, thank you so much. for coming on. Um, first up, what did.

you make of this handwritten response. from, uh, Miss Lorent? >> Well, uh, she she responded. I'm I'm. glad she responded. You know, sometimes. when you have, um, prosay litigants, it's it's kind of difficult to sort of. get them engaged the proper way. I. received that particular letter in the. mail to my office um before it was even. something that went to the courts. And. so once I was able to understand that,

you know, she had also mailed it to the. court, I'm glad that the judge was, you. know, able to make sure that that that. document was entered in as a pleading on. her behalf. You know, now we can engage. in litigation and we can continue the. case that now that she's responded, we. can move on. We're now at the the. discovery phase of litigation where I'm. allowed to, you know, take Susan's. deposition, take, you know, the. landlord's deposition, all parties. involved, witnesses, and things like. that. So, I'm happy [clears throat] to. have litigation uh moving pretty much.

>> And her response, which was both on the. defensive and the offensive, right? She's intending to file her own lawsuit. Um, thoughts on that and how do you plan. to address that? Well, um, my my my thoughts are, you. know, I I hope that if if Susan, you. know, wants to, you know, take advantage. of whatever defenses she has in this. situation that she's able to articulate. it well. You know, if she needs to get. an attorney to do that for her, I wish. her luck with that. Um, but as it.

relates to, you know, what she's. claiming in in this letter to to the. judge, um, you know, I I don't really, you know, want to comment on that other. than the fact that, you know, it's it's. given me some insight as to, you know, how she's thinking about this case. >> So, you're limited in what you can. actually say since it's ongoing, uh, uh, litigation. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I, you know, I I have. some evidence. you know, we we've, you. know, shared some discovery at this. point um with the landlord's attorney.

And so what I don't want to do is just. compromise the integrity of that. evidence for the sake of, you know, you. know, commenting on what Susan, you. know, has in her mind. Pretty much what. I've had the conversation with my client. about was the merits of this case. You. know, if if Susan is entitled to her. defenses, cool. You know, I'm I'm I'm. okay with her being able to articulate. those, but I pretty much think that this. case is going to be tried on its merits,

and you know, I think that the the. family um has the the better claim here. >> Can you talk to me a little bit more. about uh the wrongful death lawsuit? I. mentioned it before. I was talking about. it. Um why does the family feel the need. for this? And why also um what is the. expectation at this point about what. they believe they can actually recover? Well, I've I've been, you know, asked or. hired to investigate negligence in this.

situation. We've had the criminal case. play out where Susan was convicted. And. so that's the criminal side. Now, to. make sure that she has been prosecuted. to the fullest extent of the law that. includes civil litigation, she should be. able to answer for, you know, her. wrongdoings, criminal and in in the. civil sense. So, we have a degree or at. least a theory of what we think, you. know, that that negligence is on Susan's. part, as well as her former landlord, Charles Gabbard. And so, we've we've. pursued the lawsuit based on that. We.

made a short, plain statement according. to the rules of of, you know, pleadings. here in in a lawsuit situation. And we. just want the evidence to be played out. and the case to be tried on its merits. So again, like I I I am in a place that. will allow us to move litigation forward. in a sense. And so I just want the. evidence to play out and and and once it. does, you know, I'll be able to have a. better conversation with you about that. >> Sure. And just to be clear, you have. received uh a response from Charles. Gabbard's side. I mean, I know you can't.

talk about the content of it, but you. you have response. >> So this information is pretty much. public. Clerk court's website, Marian. County has, you know, all that stuff. available. So, yes, I've received an. answer from Charles Gabbert's attorney. We've made some progress with the. discovery and we've exchanged some. information and and so hopefully with. the discovery phase of litigation, we. can get forward more information. We'll. eventually take depositions. I'm. interested in taking Susan Lawrence's. deposition, Charles Gabbert's. deposition, of course, because they are.

the defendants of the case. There are. some other witnesses who I'm interested. in getting their deposition testimony as. well. So, we'll let the facts be where. they are, but I'm definitely excited. about being able to move this case. forward because like I said before, when. you have, you know, prosay litigance, sometimes that that progress of. discovery can be stifled. >> Yeah. No, I understand. Um, how's the. family doing at this point? >> About about as good as they can. Um, you. know, the holidays are always hard,

especially with loss of someone who was. the center of their life. you know, these are four babies, no mom, and they. have to endure the holidays without her. Um, you know, and it's an everyday um. ongoing situation. Each child has their. own personality, their own relationship. with their mom, and you know, Pamela. Das, the grandmother, is is really just. trying to hold the family together. So, uh, it's rough. You know, it's a it's a. dayby-day kind of process. Every day.

isn't good. Every day isn't bad. But, you know, they're doing the best that. they can. >> And the attention around the world from. this Netflix documentary, how has that. affected them? >> It's really interesting because what you. have is the grandmother Pamela Diaz. really really trying to protect her. grandchildren from all the things that. go on. I mean, the oldest is a teenager. now. So, of course, he may be exposed to.

social media. He may see things. And so, what she's really focused on is trying. to protect these kids from the negative. attention, that kind of thing. She she. wants to promote positivity within her. family unit. And so, it's it's it's hard. when there's so much attention out. there. Everybody's has an opinion about. what's going on the Netflix film and. comments about that. And so from the. perspective of the grandmother here, she's really just trying to protect. these kids, keep a shield of protection. around them so then that they don't get. exposed to the negative attention. >> Do you know if they objected to it being.

produced? Do you know if they objected. to this being published and you know the. story being told in that way? >> I I I have no understanding of any. objection at all um that was made with. regards to the the the production of the. documentary. No. >> Okay. Um, Anthony, again, I know you're. limited in what you can say about the. litigation. Um, is there anything else. you can tell us about um, you know, what. we should be looking out for, what we. can expect, what might be going on here?

Um, anything else you might be able to. share at this point? >> My job, of course, is civil litigation. All right. I'm I'm really I really want. to be able to articulate the damages and. what these kids have gone through. certainly their relationship with their. mom or the loss of their mom having to. deal with that is something that is the. most critical part of their life that is. the ultimate damage like I I couldn't. imagine being 4 years old or you know 9. years old 13 years old without my mom.

and so the process of dealing with that. is definitely one of the most important. things that I want to be able to. articulate and share with the public. like these are children they're stress. they're pain they're suffering their. aggrav probation is ongoing. It's it's. it's not fixable with, you know, any. amount of money that can be pulled from. civil litigation. Um, it's not fixable. from any amount of punishment given to. Susan Lawrence. It's not it's not. fixable in the sense that, you know, any. amount of counseling with these kids can.

sort of help them adjust to what they. may be going through. I don't live with. them every day. I hear their stories. their grandmother does her best to try. to make sure that I understand their. damages because I have to articulate. those in a courtroom someday. But it's. an ongoing sort of situation and and. these kids are like I said, it's hard. It's it's very hard. These kids are. going through a very rough time in their. life and I'm not sure when there's going. to be some some some closure. We try,

you know, of course with the conviction. of Susan Lawrence, there is one door. closed in that chapter. Hopefully, we. can close another door with the civil. litigation so they can put this behind. them, you know, and then, you know, at. some point the attention may taper off. At some point, the media may move on to. the next situation or something that's. out in the public and so much attention. won't be brought on these children where. they don't have to live with, you know, all of the the negative, you know, influences. >> It's horrible. It's horrible when you.

think about how traumatic it is to lose. a parent at a young age. But in that. way, in that way, and in a way that now. there was a trial, it was public, there. was this Netflix movie, you know, it's. being talked about. Our our hearts, our. prayers are going to them. I I I can. only imagine how difficult this is. And. and you know what else I was going to. ask you? I know it's still early in the. litigation, but potentially. they could be called as witnesses, right? and have to testify at a civil.

trial. >> Yeah, they they can be um you know, a. lot of times the judge will, you know, have say so in, you know, the the the. testimony of minors. Um you know, it it. it's it's really something that is um. possible. You know, it was definitely. possible in the criminal case, but of. course, you didn't hear any testimony. from um AJ Owens's children during that. trial, and Susan was still convicted. So, you know, I I I think for the most. part, you know, if if if a jury can.

convict Susan of, you know, her heinous. acts um without the without any in. insight from the children, I I think the. evidence is clear in in a civil sense, >> but Susan could potentially call them as. her own witnesses, right? >> Yeah, she she does have that ability um. to to call them as witnesses. Um. we will see you know um I I I think that. you know you you've seen the the um law. enforcement footage like there there's.

one particular case where or situation. at the time of the shooting where you. have AJ's child being present you know. seeing his mother you know pass away. like okay well that's that's definitely. an issue where that child can be able to. articulate what he he was going through. at the time. That's that's a damage. So, if Susan wants to explore that, then. we'll we'll figure out, you know, what. steps we need to take to see if that. evidence is, you know, can be, you know,

presented in court. Ultimately, we all. understand that this is a situation that. never should have happened. Never should. have happened at all. And so, when we. think about things like that, we go. into, okay, well, who's responsible? Is. it Susan? Is it law enforcement? You. know, we've made no claim against law. enforcement. Is it the, you know, landlord, Charles Gabbard? Um, we think. he has some some liability. That's why. he's named in the lawsuit. So, that's. hopefully, you know, like I said, the. evidence can play out. No matter who or.

or what information is brought out, we're able to make sure that this case. is tried on its merits. I want you to. stay in touch with us as this uh. progresses because um obviously this is. not the end of the story. There is a lot. more. Uh, we will see if we hear more. from Susan Lorent from prison as this. progresses, whether or not she'll retain. counsel, whether she'll fight back or. not. But again, I go back to something I. said before just on behalf of all of us. Our hearts, our prayers, our thoughts. are with the family. I know this is a. tremendously difficult time. It may only.

get more difficult, but Anthony Thomas, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> I I I [clears throat] appreciate your. attention on this case. Thank you so. much. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow. [music] me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse. Weber. I'll speak to you next time.