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The true crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: officer-worn camera recordings. Faces of victims, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of headlights or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones expressing wariness or panic or anger or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we frequently catch sight of the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like extraordinary diffidence – though perhaps this is because they know they are being recorded.

An Emerging Pattern in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the police seemed surprisingly lenient with the suspect. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, composed entirely of body cam film. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the grim case of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a woman of colour whose four young kids reportedly bothered and antagonized her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the police were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when Owens went to the neighbor's residence to confront her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The investigating authorities found evidence that Lorincz had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which permit householders and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The documentary constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the shooting, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – prefaced by emergency call recordings of the caller calling the police 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 suggest anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an hurtful taunt. The film is showcased as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws generate senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of firearm possession and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how minimal concern the officers took in this point. At what time did she purchase the firearm? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? Had she ever had occasion to fire it before? 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 were not included). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her neighbors a very long time, Lorincz was not even arrested and charged, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another point of comparison, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was ultimately formally arrested in the detention area, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply declines to rise, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor 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 could be effective?

Conclusion and Verdict

It was not successful; and the jury’s verdict is revealed in the end titles. A deeply sobering picture of American crime and punishment.