Los Angeles police have booked Jillian Lauren, an author and the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, on suspicion of attempted murder — after an extraordinary sequence of events that included officers shooting at and wounding Lauren in the yard of her home.
Lauren suffered a non-life-threatening injury when she was shot. Her husband was not involved in the incident. She was released on bond Wednesday, and a court date has been set for April 30, according to police records.
NPR's requests for comment from Lauren's business and legal representatives early Thursday were not immediately returned. The local prosecutor's office has also not yet replied to questions about potential charges against Lauren.
Details about the shooting are still emerging. Here's what we know so far:
It started with a car crash
California Highway Patrol officers were pursuing three suspects who fled the scene of a misdemeanor hit-and-run on the Ventura Freeway Tuesday, when they radioed for backup around 3:25 p.m. local time, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The suspects ran into the nearby Eagle Rock neighborhood, west of Pasadena. A suspect was seen running behind a house on Waldo Place — the cul de sac street where Lauren lives.
When officers reached the backyard of a house where the suspect was seen, they saw a woman, later identified as Lauren, holding a pistol in a neighboring yard. She is referred to as Jillian Lauren Shriner in police documents.
Lauren was shot, and then surrendered
"The officers ordered Shriner to drop the handgun numerous times; however, she refused," the news release said. "Shriner then pointed the handgun at the officers, and an Officer-Involved Shooting occurred."
Lauren, 51, went into her house after being struck by gunfire, according to the official account. Local TV news helicopters — which had been hovering above the area of the car crash — showed the scene as Lauren emerged from her home. She and another woman lay face-down on the ground, and officers placed handcuffs on Lauren.
The handcuffs were later removed, as Lauren was put on a stretcher and lifted into an ambulance. Police say she "was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound" — to her shoulder, according to local TV channel KTLA — at a local hospital.
The LAPD says a 9-millimeter handgun was found at Lauren's home.
Lauren was not involved with the hit-and-run, police say. But because of the encounter with police in her yard, she was "absentee booked" for attempted murder. An absentee booking is common in instances where a suspect is injured and receiving medical care, rather than being processed into the jail system.
As for the hit-and-run crash, one of the three suspects was detained, cited and released by California Highway Patrol.
Lauren is an author
Jillian Lauren has written several memoirs and novels, including Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, her account of her experiences as a member of the Prince of Brunei's harem.
Her most recent book, Behold the Monster: Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer, is an expansive true-crime story about the serial killer Samuel Little. Lauren got the idea for the book after speaking with an LAPD homicide detective, according to the book's publisher.
Lauren is also an adoption advocate, who has drawn on her experiences as both an adopted child and the adoptive mother of two sons to contribute a story to "The Moth" and to deliver a TEDx Talk.
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