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The real-life crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a whole new language and structure: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, observers and possible perpetrators loom up to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or flashlights as the police arrive, their faces and voices eloquent of caution or panic or anger or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what occasionally seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer by her partner, whose main point of interest was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the suspect. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the grim case of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a African American woman whose four young kids allegedly harassed and tormented her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were repeatedly called, Lorincz shot Owens dead through her closed front door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found evidence that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit householders and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of danger. The movie constructs its narrative with the officer recordings generated during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the shooting, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – introduced by 911 audio material of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of the individual which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Portrayal of the Accused

The documentary does not really imply anything too complicated about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, 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 lead to senseless and tragic violence. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit famously claimed made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how little interest the police took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Had she ever had occasion to fire it before? How was the gun kept in her home? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The authorities aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they could have inquired in recordings that were not included). Or is gun ownership so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or toasters?

Detention and Consequences

For what appeared to her local residents a extended period, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was finally officially taken into custody in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply refuses to stand, refuses to put her wrists out for the handcuffs, not hostilely, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point encouraged her to think that this could be effective?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of American crime and punishment.