The chaos and confusion leading up to the officer-involved shooting of bestselling author Jillian Lauren, the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, was captured on several security cameras and police-worn body cams, including the moment she apparently pointed and racked her firearm.
“Put the gun down! Hey, put the gun down!” police officers say from the other side of a large wooden fence along Lauren’s property in Eagle Rock. They continue shouting out similar orders, telling the 51-year-old writer to “lay the gun down” while emphasizing that they’re only “trying to help,” according to video released by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Then, one officer can be heard saying, “She just pointed it, not at us, but she just lifted it up.”
“Oh, she just racked it,” another cop says, his comment immediately followed by gunfire.
Surveillance video that appears to be taken from Lauren’s home shows the moment she is shot, though it was recorded from behind her. Police said two officers fired off shots and wounded Lauren, who then ran inside the residence. She re-emerged about an hour later alongside her babysitter and she was taken into custody.
The confrontation unfolded around 3:55 p.m. on April 8, as officers descended on Lauren’s neighborhood in search of three hit-and-run suspects who police said fled from the scene of a nearby traffic accident. Police at the time believed the suspects were hiding out in yards in the area, which ultimately landed them on Lauren’s property.
In a 911 call placed shortly after the shooting, Lauren can be heard explaining to the dispatcher that she was shot by the hit-and-run suspect: “I had my gun… and he said, ‘Put down that gun, put down that gun’ and I said, ‘put down your f—ing gun.’ And then he shot me.”
Officers can also be heard repeatedly identifying themselves in the video clips.
No officers were wounded in the incident. Lauren has since been charged with attempted murder and released from custody after posting bail. She is due in court on April 30.
