Watch FMovies. On a NYC subway in December 1984, 36-year-old Bernhard Goetz shot four black teenagers he believed were about to mug him. The incident immediately set off a national debate about crime, race relations, vigilantism and the right to self-defense. The inner mindset of Goetz himself, presented primarily through his unapologetic videotaped statement to police, is the main focal point of the film.