🔗 Share this article

The real-life crime category has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and structure: officer-worn camera recordings. Countenances of those harmed, observers and potential offenders loom up to the cameras, at times in the harsh glare of headlights or flashlights as the police arrive, their faces and voices eloquent of wariness or panic or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often catch sight of the faces of the officers themselves, one standing by blankly while the other conducts the inquiry with what sometimes seems like remarkable hesitation – though perhaps 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 social media personality by her partner, whose main point of interest was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed surprisingly lenient with the suspect. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, composed entirely of body cam film. 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 neighbor, a local resident. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when Owens went to Lorincz’s house to confront her about hurling items at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The arresting officers found evidence that the suspect had done online research into Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, which permit householders and others to shoot if there is a significant presumption of danger. The documentary builds its story with the officer recordings generated during the multiple officer calls to the scene 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 melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of the individual which has a disturbing, unsettling appeal.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really imply anything too complex about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her “the Karen”, an hurtful taunt. The film is presented as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws generate senseless and tragic violence. But the reality of firearm possession and the constitutional right (that longstanding U.S. legal right that a deceased pundit notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much highlighted.

Police Interrogation and Firearm Norms

It is feasible to watch the officer questioning segments here and feel surprised at how little interest the officers took in this aspect. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Was this the first time she discharged the weapon? Where did she store it in the house? Was it just on the couch, loaded and ready? The police aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant 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 bread heaters?

Detention and Consequences

For what seemed to her local residents a very long time, the suspect was not even arrested and charged, only held 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 extraordinary sequence in which the individual simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the cuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose mental health 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?

Conclusion and Verdict

It was not successful; and the panel's decision is revealed in the closing credits. A very sombre picture of American crime and punishment.