Police who shot wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner acted improperly as new twist in case emerges
An investigation has determined that police officers acted improperly when firing their weapons at the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner last year.
Just days before the American band were due to perform at Coachella, Shriner's wife Jillian Lauren made international news when she was shot by police and later booked for attempted murder, having also interfered in the police chase.
It was reported at the time that the 52-year-old author had emerged from her house in Los Angeles holding a gun, following reports of a nearby hit-and-run.
Jennifer Forkish, LAPD Director of Communications, told NBC News at the time that Shriner 'repeatedly ignored police commands to disarm and that she fired her weapon at LAPD officers'.
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“The officers ordered Shriner to drop the handgun numerous times,” the police department said. “However, she refused. Shriner then pointed the handgun at the officers."
However, nearly a year on from the bizarre case, the Los Angeles Police Commission has now ruled that the actions of the police officers were improper.
The Commission reviewed the report and determined that the two officers and one sergeant involved in the shooting deviated from policy and acted improperly in shooting the mother-of-two, who has been married to Shriner since 2005.
“I was doing the best I knew to protect my family,” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone published in December. “[The] impulse was self-defence.”
Speaking about the aftermath of the incident, she added: “My world fell to pieces around me in a heartbeat. 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.”
Lauren, cited mental health concerns, including PTSD, as a reason for her somewhat erratic actions, while she also filed for divorce against Shriner in December of last year due to 'irreconcilable differences'.
She added: “I’m a victim of sex trafficking and domestic violence. … When the headlines said ‘Mental Health Diversion,’ what I really thought was, ‘OK, good. People are so scared to talk about this.’ I’m in a position where I can speak to it.”
“I had to go back and work on trauma from a long time ago in order to try and understand myself now, my actions."
Meanwhile, one of the suspects in the hit-and-run from last year was detained before being released, while the other two suspects involved were never located.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell will decide what disciplinary action, if any, will be faced by the officers and their sergeant after the ruling in yesterday's (24 March) report review.
Topics: Crime
James Moorhouse