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The real-life crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and grammar: police body cam footage. Faces of victims, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, at times in the intense brightness of headlights or torches as the police arrive, their expressions and tones eloquent of caution or fear or indignation or dubiously feigned naivety. And we often incidentally glimpse the faces 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 Documentary Filmmaking

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 body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the law enforcement seemed extraordinarily lax with the perpetrator. There is also Bill Morrison’s Oscar-nominated short Incident, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the grim case of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida, a woman of colour whose four young kids allegedly harassed and tormented her neighbor, a local resident. In 2023, after an escalating series of neighborhood conflicts in which the authorities were repeatedly called, the accused fatally shot Owens through her closed front door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and Legal Context

The arresting officers found evidence that the suspect had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow residents and others to use firearms if there is a significant presumption of threat. The movie constructs its narrative with the body cam footage captured during the multiple officer calls to the scene before the killing, and then at the horrific and chaotic crime scene itself – introduced by emergency call recordings of Lorincz contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of the individual which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

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 a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The film is presented as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws 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 police interrogation scenes here and feel astonished at how little interest the police took in this point. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Had she ever had occasion to fire it before? 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 were not included). Or is possessing a firearm so commonplace it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or toasters?

Detention and Consequences

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 finally officially taken into custody 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 hostilely, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Had the kid-gloves treatment up until that point encouraged her to think that this could be effective?

Conclusion and Verdict

It was not successful; and the jury’s verdict is revealed in the closing credits. A deeply sobering portrayal of U.S. justice and consequences.