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The real-life crime category has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, observers and potential offenders loom up to the cameras, at times in the intense brightness of headlights or flashlights as the officers approach, their faces and voices expressing caution or fear or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often catch sight of the faces 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.

An Emerging Pattern in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the streaming service true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, 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, composed entirely of body cam film. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a African American woman whose children reportedly bothered and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The arresting officers found evidence that the suspect had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow residents and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of danger. The movie builds its story with the officer recordings generated during the repeated police visits to the location before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – introduced by 911 audio material of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of the individual which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really imply anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The production is showcased as an example of how self-defense regulations generate senseless and tragic violence. But the fact of firearm possession and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Officer Questioning and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel astonished at how minimal concern the police took in this point. At what time did she purchase the firearm? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? 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 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 commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her local residents a very long time, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held 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 officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the cuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Did the gentle handling up until that point encouraged her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the end titles. A deeply sobering picture of American crime and punishment.