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The true 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 possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of headlights or flashlights as the officers approach, their faces and voices eloquent of caution or panic or anger or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other asks the questions with what occasionally seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

An Emerging Pattern in Documentary Filmmaking

We have already had the streaming service true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the killing of an social media personality by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the suspect. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in Ocala, Florida, a woman of colour whose children allegedly harassed and tormented her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the police were summoned multiple times, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The arresting officers found proof that the suspect 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 crime scene itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of the caller contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of the individual which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really suggest anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an illustration of how self-defense regulations generate unnecessary and heartbreaking bloodshed. But the reality of firearm possession 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 Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how minimal concern the officers 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? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The authorities 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 possessing a firearm so commonplace it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Detention and Consequences

For what seemed to her local residents a extended period, Lorincz was not even arrested and charged, only detained and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was finally formally arrested in the holding cell, there is an remarkable scene in which Lorincz simply declines to rise, refuses to put her wrists out for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point led her to think that this might actually work?

Conclusion and Verdict

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