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The true crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, observers and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or flashlights as the officers approach, their expressions and tones expressing caution or fear or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other conducts the inquiry 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 streaming service real-life crime film American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the slaying of an social media personality by her boyfriend, whose primary focus was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed extraordinarily lax with the perpetrator. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of officer footage. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida, a African American woman whose four young kids allegedly harassed and tormented her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were summoned multiple times, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when Owens went to the neighbor's residence to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found proof that Lorincz had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow householders and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of danger. The movie constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the repeated police visits to the location before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – introduced by 911 audio material of the caller calling the police in a melodramatically shaky 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 complicated about the neighbor, or any extenuating circumstance. She is obviously disturbed, although the kids are heard calling her “the Karen”, an ugly jibe. The production is showcased as an example of how self-defense regulations lead to senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of firearm possession and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator famously claimed made gun deaths a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel astonished at how little interest the police 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? 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 surely relevant questions (though they could have inquired in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or toasters?

Detention and Consequences

For what appeared to her neighbors a extended period, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was ultimately formally arrested in the holding cell, there is an remarkable scene in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, not hostilely, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose psychological state means that she just can’t do it. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point encouraged her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is saved for the end titles. A deeply sobering picture of U.S. justice and consequences.