I was in fourth grade—the same age as the Elisabeth, the victim—when I first heard about the brutal hammer attack at Mountain Park Elementary. Just minutes after the intruder fled the scene, my own school locked down, and the story’s been with me ever since.

Now, more than 20 years later, this film is my way of processing that moment.

After making narrative shorts like The Ballad of Keith Dickey, shooting a docu-series for a Christian non-profit, and directing commercials at a creative agency, Struck has been the culmination of my own journey as a filmmaker.

This is a story about demons and bureaucrats. There is violence, loss, and unimaginable suffering. But Struck is not like other entries in the true crime genre. This is something new. This is hopeful true crime.

Watching Struck you will see Elisabeth’s story re-shape public school safety in Gwinnett County, one of the top education systems in the country. You will see a man mangled by mental decay, stuck in the legal machine for decades. But most importantly, you will see the quiet power of family against the darkness in our world.

Zac Lovelace