This story isn't going away. And now, it's getting another chapter.
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Lauren Kanarek, who survived a 2019 shooting involving Olympic trainer Michael Barisone, is speaking out again. This time, it's about how her story is being told.
Kanarek published an open letter saying she feels she has been "hurt three times" by the incident. First when she was shot. Second when Barisone was found not guilty by reason of insanity. And now, she says, through a new documentary.
The film, Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill on Netflix, revisits the case. Kanarek claims the production company behind it distorted the truth in pursuit of ratings.
In her letter, she describes the August 7, 2019 shooting in blunt terms, saying Barisone shot her twice in the chest at close range. What followed, she wrote, was a fight for survival that included flatlining in the ambulance and weeks in a medically induced coma.
That was only part of it.
Kanarek said she later faced accusations that she contributed to the situation, pointing to claims from Barisone that she harassed him online. She also questioned the legal outcome, calling the process a failure and suggesting the jury was influenced into finding him temporarily insane.
She believes the shooting could have been prevented. According to Kanarek, she raised concerns about Barisone beforehand but was not taken seriously.
Now, she says, the most difficult part is seeing blame directed at her.
"I was the victim. I am the survivor," she wrote. "Lies will not erase the truth."
Barisone's attorney pushed back, disputing Kanarek's claims and maintaining that evidence supports the defense's position that Barisone suffered a mental breakdown.
With the documentary now out, both sides are once again telling very different versions of the same story.
