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The true crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a whole new language and structure: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of headlights or flashlights as the officers approach, their expressions and tones expressing caution or panic or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often catch sight of the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though perhaps this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the streaming service real-life crime film The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an social media personality 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, made exclusively of officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a African American woman whose four young kids reportedly bothered and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were summoned multiple times, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Police Inquiry and State Laws

The investigating authorities found proof that Lorincz had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which permit householders and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief 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 horrific and chaotic incident site itself – introduced by 911 audio material of the caller contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Portrayal of the Accused

The documentary does not really imply anything too complicated about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate senseless and tragic violence. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator famously claimed made gun deaths a price worth paying) is not much highlighted.

Officer Questioning and Firearm Norms

It is feasible to watch the police interrogation scenes 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? Had she ever had occasion to fire it before? Where did she store it in the house? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? 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 kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared to her local residents 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 point of comparison, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was ultimately officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which Lorincz simply declines to rise, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she just can’t do it. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point led her to think that this might actually work?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It was not successful; and the panel's decision is saved for the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of American crime and punishment.