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The real-life crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, witnesses and potential offenders loom up to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones eloquent of caution or panic or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we frequently catch sight of the expressions of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other asks the questions with what occasionally seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the Netflix real-life crime film 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 suspect. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the grim case of Ajike Owens 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 neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Police Inquiry and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found evidence that Lorincz had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow residents and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of danger. The documentary builds its story with the officer recordings captured during the repeated police visits to the scene before the killing, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – introduced by 911 audio material of the caller calling the police in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really imply anything too complex about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is showcased as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws lead to senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the fact of firearm possession and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel surprised at how little interest the officers took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? 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 authorities aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they could have inquired in footage that were not included). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Detention and Consequences

For what appeared to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the a prior incident). And when she was ultimately officially taken into custody in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the cuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she just can’t do it. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point encouraged her to think that this might actually work?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is revealed in the end titles. A deeply sobering portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.