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The real-life crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, witnesses and potential offenders loom up to the cameras, at times in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones eloquent of wariness or panic or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we frequently incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

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 body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the police 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 woman of colour whose children reportedly bothered and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were summoned multiple times, the accused fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to the neighbor's residence to confront her about throwing objects at her children.

The Police Inquiry and State Laws

The investigating authorities found proof that the suspect had done online research into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit residents and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief 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 incident site itself – introduced 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 documentary does not really suggest anything too complex about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an ugly jibe. The film is presented as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws lead to unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator famously claimed made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how little interest the police took in this point. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? 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 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 toasters?

Detention and Consequences

For what seemed to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was finally officially taken into custody in the detention area, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply declines to rise, 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 led her to think that this could be effective?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It was not successful; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the end titles. A very sombre portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.