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The true 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, at times in the harsh glare of headlights or torches as the officers approach, their faces and voices eloquent of caution or panic or anger or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the law enforcement personnel, one standing by blankly while the other conducts the inquiry with what occasionally seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

An Emerging Pattern in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have already had the Netflix true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer by her partner, whose primary focus 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 officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in a city in 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, the accused shot Owens dead through her closed front 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 evidence that Lorincz had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which allow residents and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The documentary constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the multiple officer calls to the location before the shooting, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of the individual which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Portrayal of the Accused

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 “the Karen”, an hurtful taunt. The production is showcased as an example of how self-defense regulations lead to senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of gun ownership and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator famously claimed made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished 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? 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 may have done in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is gun ownership so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or toasters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her local residents a extended period, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, 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 Lorincz simply declines to rise, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, 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 encouraged her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is saved for the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.