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The real-life crime category has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Faces of victims, witnesses and potential offenders appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of headlights or flashlights as the officers approach, their expressions and tones expressing caution or panic or anger or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer by her partner, whose primary focus was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed extraordinarily lax with the suspect. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, composed entirely of officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the grim case of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida, a African American woman whose four young kids allegedly harassed and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The investigating authorities found proof that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit residents and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The documentary builds its story with the body cam footage captured during the multiple officer calls to the location before the shooting, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of the caller contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really suggest anything too complex about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, although the kids are heard calling her “the Karen”, an hurtful taunt. The film is showcased as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of gun ownership and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a deceased pundit famously claimed made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how little interest the police took in this aspect. At what time did she purchase the firearm? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? How was the gun kept in her home? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The police aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they could have inquired in footage that didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her local residents a extended period, Lorincz was not even arrested and charged, only held 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 ultimately formally arrested in the detention area, there is an extraordinary sequence in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, not hostilely, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she just can’t do it. Did the gentle handling up until that point encouraged her to think that this could be effective?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is saved for the end titles. A deeply sobering portrayal of American crime and punishment.