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The true crime genre has an innovative format, or perhaps even a whole new language and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Faces of victims, observers and possible perpetrators loom up to the cameras, at times in the intense brightness of headlights or flashlights as the officers approach, their faces and voices eloquent of wariness or fear or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the faces of the law enforcement personnel, one standing by blankly 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 already had the Netflix true-crime documentary American Murder: Gabby Petito, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer 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 perpetrator. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, made exclusively 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 tormented her white neighbour, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when the victim went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about hurling items at her children.

The Police Inquiry and State Laws

The arresting officers found evidence that Lorincz had done internet searches into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit householders and others to shoot if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The documentary builds its story with the body cam footage generated during the repeated police visits to the location before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – prefaced by emergency call recordings of the caller calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The film does not really imply anything too complicated about the neighbor, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, 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 violence. But the fact of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator notoriously said made firearm fatalities a price worth paying) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel astonished at how little interest the officers took in this aspect. At what time did she purchase the firearm? 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 didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Detention and Consequences

For what seemed to her neighbors a very long time, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, incidentally, with the a prior incident). And when she was ultimately officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply declines to rise, will not extend her arms for the handcuffs, not aggressively, but with the courteously pathetic demeanor 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 was not successful; and the panel's decision is saved for the closing credits. A deeply sobering picture of American crime and punishment.