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The real-life crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, observers and possible perpetrators loom up to the cameras, sometimes in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or flashlights as the police arrive, their expressions and tones expressing caution or fear or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often catch sight of the expressions of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have already had the Netflix true-crime documentary 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 police seemed extraordinarily lax with the suspect. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, composed entirely of officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida, a African American woman whose children allegedly harassed and tormented her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the police were repeatedly called, the accused shot Owens dead through her closed front door, when Owens went to the neighbor's residence to address 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 allow residents and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of threat. The documentary 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 emergency call recordings of Lorincz calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really suggest anything too complex about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the kids are heard calling her “the Karen”, an hurtful taunt. The film is showcased as an illustration of how self-defense regulations lead to unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the fact of gun ownership and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a deceased pundit notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel astonished at how little interest the officers took in this aspect. At what time did she purchase the firearm? 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? 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 footage that didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even offered a hotel stay 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, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose psychological state 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 revealed in the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of American crime and punishment.