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The real-life crime category has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and grammar: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, observers and potential offenders appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or torches as the officers approach, their faces and voices eloquent of wariness or fear or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other conducts the inquiry with what occasionally seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an social media personality 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 perpetrator. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, made exclusively of officer footage. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida, a African American woman whose children reportedly bothered and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were summoned multiple times, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found proof that Lorincz had done online research into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit residents and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The documentary constructs its narrative with the officer recordings generated during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered crime scene itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of the caller contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of the individual which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

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 kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The production is showcased as an example of how self-defense regulations lead to senseless and tragic violence. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a deceased pundit famously claimed made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel surprised at how minimal concern 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 commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or toasters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another point of comparison, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was finally formally arrested in the detention area, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply refuses to stand, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, 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 was not successful; and the panel's decision is revealed in the end titles. A very sombre picture of U.S. justice and consequences.