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The true crime category has a new medium, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, witnesses and potential offenders appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or flashlights as the officers approach, their expressions and tones expressing wariness or panic or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we frequently incidentally glimpse the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they know they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Non-Fiction Cinema

We have already had the Netflix true-crime documentary The Gabby Petito Case, about the killing 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 extraordinarily lax with the suspect. 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 a city in Florida, a African American woman whose children reportedly bothered and antagonized her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were repeatedly called, Lorincz shot Owens dead through her closed front door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The arresting officers found proof that Lorincz 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 captured during the repeated police visits to the location before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic incident site itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz 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 kids are heard calling her a derogatory term, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws generate senseless and tragic bloodshed. But the reality of gun ownership and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is possible 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? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The authorities aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they could have inquired in footage that were not included). Or is gun ownership so commonplace it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only held 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 ultimately officially taken into custody in the detention area, there is an remarkable scene in which the individual simply refuses to stand, refuses to put her wrists out for the cuffs, not hostilely, 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 was not successful; and the panel's decision is revealed in the closing credits. A very sombre portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.