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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, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or flashlights as the officers approach, their expressions and tones eloquent of wariness or fear or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we frequently catch sight of the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer 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 body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the grim case of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a African American woman whose children allegedly harassed and tormented her neighbor, a local resident. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were summoned multiple times, the accused shot Owens dead through her closed front door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Police Inquiry and State Laws

The investigating authorities found proof that the suspect had done internet searches into the state's self-defense statutes, which permit householders and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The movie builds its story with the body cam footage captured during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic incident site itself – introduced by 911 audio material of the caller calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really imply anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is obviously disturbed, although the children are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The production is presented as an example of how “stand your ground” laws lead to unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the fact of firearm possession and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator notoriously said made gun deaths a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how minimal concern the officers took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? 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 authorities aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they may have done in footage that were not included). Or is possessing a firearm so commonplace it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared 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, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was ultimately formally arrested in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply declines to rise, refuses to put her wrists out 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 led her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It was not successful; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the closing credits. A deeply sobering portrayal of American crime and punishment.