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The true crime category 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 appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of headlights or torches as the officers approach, their expressions and tones expressing wariness or panic or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we frequently incidentally glimpse 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 are aware they are being recorded.

An Emerging Pattern in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have already had the Netflix true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, whose primary focus was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the perpetrator. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, made exclusively of officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the grim case of a Florida mother in Ocala, Florida, a African American woman whose children reportedly bothered and tormented her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the police were repeatedly called, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The arresting officers found evidence that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which allow householders and others to shoot if there is a significant presumption of danger. The documentary constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the repeated police visits to the scene before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – introduced by 911 audio material of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really suggest anything too complicated about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an ugly jibe. The film is showcased as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate unnecessary and heartbreaking violence. But the fact of firearm possession and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit notoriously said made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how little interest the officers took in this point. At what time did she purchase the firearm? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? How was the gun kept in her home? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? 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 gun ownership so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or toasters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed 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 finally formally arrested in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which Lorincz simply declines to rise, 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. Did the gentle handling up until that point encouraged her to think that this could be effective?

Conclusion and Verdict

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