🔗 Share this article

The real-life crime category has an innovative format, or perhaps even a whole new language 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 headlights or torches as the police arrive, their faces and voices expressing wariness or panic or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we frequently incidentally glimpse the faces of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly 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 Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the Netflix real-life crime film The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing of an Instagram influencer by her partner, whose main point of interest was body cam footage 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, composed entirely 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 woman of colour whose children allegedly harassed and tormented her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, Lorincz shot Owens dead through her closed front door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to confront her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found evidence that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit residents and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The movie builds its story with the body cam footage generated during the multiple officer calls to the location before the killing, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of the individual which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really imply anything too complex about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is obviously disturbed, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The film is showcased as an example of how self-defense regulations lead to senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how minimal concern the police took in this point. At what time did she purchase the firearm? 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? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The police aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they could have inquired in footage that were not included). Or is gun ownership so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or toasters?

Detention and Consequences

For what appeared to her local residents a very long time, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was finally officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply declines to rise, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she just can’t do it. Did the gentle handling 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 saved for the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of American crime and punishment.