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The true crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or torches as the police arrive, their faces and voices expressing wariness or fear or anger or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we frequently catch sight of the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like extraordinary diffidence – though perhaps this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

An Emerging Pattern in Documentary Filmmaking

We have already had the Netflix true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the killing of an social media personality by her boyfriend, whose primary focus was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed extraordinarily lax with the suspect. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, composed entirely of officer footage. 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 tormented her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were repeatedly called, Lorincz shot Owens dead through her locked door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found proof that the suspect had done internet searches into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow householders and others to shoot if there is a significant presumption of danger. The documentary builds its story with the body cam footage generated during the multiple officer calls to the location before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really suggest anything too complicated about the neighbor, or any extenuating circumstance. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is showcased as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate unnecessary and heartbreaking violence. But the fact of gun ownership and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator famously claimed made gun deaths a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how little interest the police took in this point. When did she buy her gun? 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 police aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they may have done in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared to her neighbors a very long time, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only held and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was finally 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 cuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor 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 didn’t; and the panel's decision is revealed in the closing credits. A deeply sobering portrayal of American crime and punishment.