Jillian Lauren, the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, has spoken out for the first time about her dangerous run-in with authorities in April that left her with a gunshot wound.
Lauren, 52, who recently filed for divorce from her husband after 22 years of marriage, made headlines earlier this year when she got caught in the crosshairs of a police chase. At the time, Los Angeles police officers chased three misdemeanor hit-and-run suspects who had left a freeway crash scene and ran into a residential neighborhood of Eagle Rock in east Los Angeles. Lauren was not involved in the original car chase.
Authorities claim Lauren came out of a neighboring house armed with a handgun and failed to drop the weapon even after being repeatedly told to do so by officers. Officers say that Lauren opened fire after seeing one of the car chase suspects on her property, before she allegedly pointed the gun at the authorities, prompting at least one to open fire.
The bullet reportedly hit her in the shoulder, and she was escorted to the hospital and later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer. Those charges, however, were eventually dropped, and she was instead charged with assault and negligent discharge of a firearm. Within days of her arrest, she was released on $1 million bond.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in a new interview about the incident, Lauren, a best-selling author, said she was “doing the best I knew to protect my family.” “[The] impulse was self-defense,” she explained of her reaction.
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“My world fell to pieces around me in a heartbeat,” Lauren added. “It’s like, you spend your whole life just getting an entire deck of cards in order. And just take them and throw them up in the air one day, and I’m still waiting to see how they’re gonna land.”
She pleaded not guilty in May and was granted a two-year mental health diversion in September, avoiding jail. Under the agreement, Lauren is required to remain sober, attend therapy, and not possess firearms.
“When the [mental health diversion] headlines came out, my joke was, ‘I’m not just a gun-toting criminal, now I’m a crazy one,’” she recalled. “My PTSD is a very real thing. I’m a victim of sex trafficking and domestic violence. … When the headlines said ‘Mental Health Diversion,’ what I really thought was, ‘Okay, good. People are so scared to talk about this. I’m in a position where I can speak to it.’”
Earlier this month, Lauren returned to the headlines with the news that she and Shriner are getting divorced. The parents of two announced their decision in a lengthy Instagram post.
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“After twenty-two years together, we have decided to divorce. Looking back with pride on the world we built, we marvel at our magnificent boys- our brightest lights,” they wrote.
“We’ll always miss the wild-at-heart kids we once were: drinking milkshakes, driving through the desert night just to see the Grand Canyon. We’ll always share the wonder we saw in each other’s eyes, when we first held our children,” they added.
“The same wild hearts that brought us together, carry us now in different directions. We’ll forever be a family, united in love, laughter, and music. Thank you all for the confetti shower of support and friendship throughout the years. It’s been beautiful.”