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The true crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Faces of victims, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or torches as the officers approach, their faces and voices expressing wariness or panic or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. 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 remarkable hesitation – though perhaps this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have previously seen the streaming service true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, 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, composed entirely of officer footage. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in Ocala, Florida, a woman of colour whose children allegedly harassed and antagonized her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the police were repeatedly called, the accused shot Owens dead through her locked door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The arresting officers found proof that the suspect had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which allow householders and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of threat. The movie builds its story with the officer recordings captured during the repeated police visits to the location before the killing, and then at the horrific and chaotic incident site itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of the caller calling the police in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of the individual which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Portrayal of the Accused

The documentary does not really imply anything too complicated about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, although the children are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an illustration of how self-defense regulations lead to senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of gun ownership and the second amendment (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how minimal concern the police took in this aspect. At what time did she purchase the firearm? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? 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 may have done in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or toasters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her local residents a very long time, Lorincz was not even arrested and charged, only detained and even offered a hotel stay 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 holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not hostilely, 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 might actually work?

Final Outcome and Judgment

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is saved for the end titles. A deeply sobering picture of American crime and punishment.