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The real-life crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and grammar: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, observers and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones expressing wariness or fear or anger or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though perhaps this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the streaming service real-life crime film American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the slaying of an social media personality by her boyfriend, whose primary focus was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the perpetrator. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a woman of colour whose children reportedly bothered and tormented her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the police were summoned multiple times, the accused shot Owens dead through her locked door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Police Inquiry and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found proof that the suspect had done internet searches into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow householders and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief of danger. The movie constructs its narrative with the body cam footage generated during the multiple officer calls to the scene 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 the individual which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary 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 ugly jibe. The film is presented as an example of how “stand your ground” laws lead to senseless and tragic violence. But the reality of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a late commentator famously claimed made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how little interest the officers 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 could have inquired in recordings that didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or toasters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared to her neighbors a very long time, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the a prior incident). And when she was finally formally arrested in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose mental health means that she just can’t do it. Did the gentle handling up until that point encouraged her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the jury’s verdict is saved for the closing credits. A deeply sobering portrayal of American crime and punishment.