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The real-life crime category has an innovative format, or perhaps even a whole new language and grammar: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, observers and possible perpetrators loom up to the cameras, sometimes in the harsh glare of vehicle beams or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones expressing wariness or panic or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the law enforcement personnel, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they know 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 social media personality by her boyfriend, whose main point of interest was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the police seemed surprisingly lenient with the perpetrator. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of officer footage. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in Ocala, Florida, a woman of colour whose children reportedly bothered and tormented her neighbor, a local resident. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighbour-dispute incidents in which the police were summoned multiple times, Lorincz shot Owens dead through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Police Inquiry and State Laws

The arresting officers found evidence that Lorincz had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow householders and others to use firearms if there is a reasonable belief of threat. The documentary constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the repeated police visits to the scene before the shooting, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – prefaced by 911 audio material of the caller calling the police in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also police cell footage of Lorincz which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really imply anything too complex about Lorincz, or any mitigating factors. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an ugly jibe. The film is showcased as an example of how self-defense regulations generate senseless and tragic violence. But the reality of firearm possession and the second amendment (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a late commentator famously claimed made gun deaths a necessary cost) is not much emphasized.

Police Interrogation and Gun Culture

It is possible 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? 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? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The authorities aren’t shown asking any of these undoubtedly important questions (though they could have inquired in footage 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 seemed to her local residents a extended period, the suspect was not even taken into custody and indicted, only detained and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another point of comparison, incidentally, with the Gabby Petito case). And when she was ultimately officially taken into custody in the holding cell, there is an remarkable scene in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, 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 revealed in the end titles. A very sombre portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.