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The true crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and grammar: officer-worn camera recordings. Faces of victims, observers and possible perpetrators loom up to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or flashlights as the officers approach, their faces and voices expressing wariness or panic or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we frequently catch sight of the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other asks the questions with what occasionally seems like extraordinary diffidence – though maybe this is because they are aware 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 killing of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was officer recordings and in which, as in this film, the police seemed extraordinarily lax with the perpetrator. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of officer footage. Now comes Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary about the grim case of Ajike Owens in a city in Florida, a African American woman whose children reportedly bothered and antagonized her white neighbour, a local resident. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to address her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The investigating authorities found evidence that Lorincz had done internet searches into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow householders and others to shoot 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 location before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – introduced by 911 audio material of Lorincz calling the police in a dramatically trembling voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Portrayal of the Accused

The documentary does not really suggest anything too complex about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is obviously disturbed, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, 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 firearm possession and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a deceased pundit famously claimed made gun deaths a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel surprised at how little interest the police took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Did she receive any instruction on handling it? 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 were not included). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about microwaves or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what appeared to her neighbors a extended period, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only detained and even provided accommodation away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, 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 Lorincz simply declines to rise, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose psychological state means that she just can’t do it. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point led her to think that this could be effective?

Final Outcome and Judgment

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