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The true crime category has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Faces of victims, observers and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or flashlights as the police arrive, their expressions and tones eloquent of caution or panic or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often catch sight of the expressions of the law enforcement personnel, one standing by blankly while the other asks the questions with what occasionally seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have already had the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an social media personality by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the perpetrator. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, composed entirely of body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida, a woman of colour whose children reportedly bothered and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the police were summoned multiple times, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The arresting officers found evidence that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which allow residents and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of danger. The movie builds its story with the body cam footage captured during the repeated police visits to the scene before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of Lorincz contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Portrayal of the Accused

The film does not really suggest anything too complex about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an ugly jibe. The production is presented as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws generate unnecessary and heartbreaking violence. But the reality of gun ownership and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit notoriously said made gun deaths a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how little interest the officers took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? Where did she store it in the house? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The authorities aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they may have done in recordings that were not included). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or toasters?

Detention and Consequences

For what seemed to her local residents a very long time, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another point of comparison, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was finally officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose psychological state means that she is unable to comply. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point led her to think that this could be effective?

Conclusion and Verdict

It was not successful; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the closing credits. A very sombre picture of U.S. justice and consequences.