Best-selling author Jillian Lauren has been shot by police and charged with attempted murder, after getting caught up in a search for hit-and-run suspects.
The shooting occurred amidst a chase through the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday, as officers tried to find three suspects who were alleged to have fled the scene of a car accident.
Lauren became involved when one of the alleged suspects ended up on the street where she lives with her husband, Weezer bassist Scott Shriner.
The 51-year-old emerged from her house with a weapon and refused to drop it despite “numerous” demands, according to an LAPD press release. She “then pointed the handgun at the officers,” who shot her in the shoulder.
The shooting took place in the back yard of her home in the hip Eagle Rock neighbourhood in the northeast of Los Angeles.
According to local media reports, Lauren had opened fire at one of the alleged hit-and-run suspects after they tried to break into her property.
After being shot by police, the 51-year-old ran back into her house, where she stayed for approximately half an hour, before coming back outside with her babysitter and surrendering to police.
Both women were taken into custody, and Lauren was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital.
A nine-millimetre handgun was recovered from her house, and she was later charged with attempted murder.
The California Highway Patrol arrested the suspected hit-and-run driver shortly afterwards, according to agency spokesperson Daniel Keene.
The suspect was found wearing nothing but his boxer shorts in the backyard of a home near Shriner’s residence.
News helicopters had previously filmed him removing his clothes and jumping into a swimming pool, as well as watering the property’s plants, in what appeared to be an attempt to blend into the neighbourhood.
His identity has not been released. The other two suspects are still at large.
Lauren, who also goes by the name Jillian Shriner, is the author of two bestselling memoirs, including 2010’s Some Girls: My Life in a Harem – which described her experiences in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei.
In 2023, she also published Behold the Monster: Facing America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer, based on interviews with the serial killer Samuel Little, who confessed to committing 93 murders between 1970 and 2005.
She married Scott Shriner in 2005, two years before he joined Weezer, the US band known for skewed alt-rock anthems such as Buddy Holly and Hash Pipe.
Earlier this week, the band were confirmed alongside Ed Sheeran as last-minute additions to the line-up of California’s Coachella music festival, which kicks off on Friday.
It is not known whether Lauren’s arrest will affect their plans to play the festival.
By BBC News
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