Bestselling author Jillian Lauren, who is the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, pled not guilty to charges stemming from the Los Angeles Police Department officer-involved shooting that left her wounded outside of their home in Eagle Rock on April 8.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Lauren, 51, pleaded not guilty to felony charges on Tuesday for willful discharge of a firearm in a gross negligent manner and assault of a person with a semiautomatic firearm. Prosecutors are also seeking a firearms sentencing enhancement and if convicted, the author faces up to 19 years in state prison, per the paper.
Lauren’s attorneys did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Last month, Lauren was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly firing in the direction of police officers first. According to the LAPD, Lauren racked her gun and fired it during a standoff with police officers who were in a neighboring yard conducting a search for hit-and-run suspects who had fled the scene of a nearby traffic collision earlier that day.
Body-worn camera footage and home-surveillance video later released by the LAPD appeared to show Lauren pointing her gun toward a fence which officers were standing behind.
“The officers gave Shriner repeated verbal commands to drop the handgun, however, she did not comply,” LAPD Commander Alex Chogyoji said in a case overview video released late last month. “Moments later, Shriner racked the handgun, pointed it at the officers and fired, resulting in an officer involved shooting.”
Lauren released her first memoir, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, in 2010, and her second, Everything You Ever Wanted, in May 2015. Both books reached The New York Times bestseller list.
Following the shooting, Lauren was booked in absentia on suspicion of attempted murder and released on $1 million bail. She is due back in court on June 18 for a preliminary hearing on whether the case against her will proceed, per the the Times.
