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The real-life crime category has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, observers and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the harsh glare of headlights or torches as the police arrive, their faces and voices eloquent of caution or panic or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often catch sight of the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively 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.

An Emerging Pattern in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the Netflix true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the slaying of an social media personality by her boyfriend, whose primary focus was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the police seemed extraordinarily lax 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 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, a local resident. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the police were summoned multiple times, the accused fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about hurling items at her children.

The Police Inquiry and Legal Context

The arresting officers found proof that Lorincz 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 threat. The movie constructs its narrative with the officer recordings generated during the repeated police visits to the location before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of the caller contacting authorities in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

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 children are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The production is presented as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate senseless and tragic violence. But the fact of gun ownership and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator notoriously said made gun deaths a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Firearm Norms

It is feasible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel astonished at how minimal concern the police took in this aspect. 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? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The police aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they could have inquired in recordings that were not included). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Detention and Consequences

For what appeared to her local residents a extended period, Lorincz was not even arrested and charged, only held and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another point of comparison, by the way, with the a prior incident). And when she was finally formally arrested in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply declines to rise, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not hostilely, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Did the gentle handling up until that point led her to think that this could be effective?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It was not successful; and the jury’s verdict is revealed in the closing credits. A deeply sobering portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.