{"id":54242,"date":"2025-12-20T15:21:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T15:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/20\/weezer-bassist-ex-wife-jillian-lauren-on-aftermath-of-lapd-shooting\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T15:21:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T15:21:52","slug":"weezer-bassist-ex-wife-jillian-lauren-on-aftermath-of-lapd-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/20\/weezer-bassist-ex-wife-jillian-lauren-on-aftermath-of-lapd-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Weezer Bassist Ex-Wife Jillian Lauren on Aftermath of LAPD Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tJillian Lauren<\/a> is finally ready to speak out \u2014 and she\u2019s \u201ccalling from hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe best-selling author and soon-to-be ex-wife of Weezer<\/a> bassist Scott Shriner<\/a> is joking, she says during a phone interview with Rolling Stone<\/em>, but her life has been in a freefall for months \u2013 ever since a swarm of police descended on her Los Angeles neighborhood last April, leading to a bizarre standoff in her backyard. The incident thrust Lauren into national headlines<\/a>. Police claimed she fired at officers who were shouting at her over a fence during a chaotic manhunt for fleeing hit-and-run suspects. Police returned fire, striking her in the arm. She was charged with two felonies.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her first interview since the incident, Lauren says she can\u2019t discuss certain aspects of the case. While she\u2019s now enrolled in a two-year mental health diversion program<\/a> that is expected to lead to full dismissal of her charges, technically, her case is still pending.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was doing the best I knew to protect my family,\u201d she tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201c[The] impulse was self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe comments were as close as Lauren would come to explaining her side of what happened that day, yet she was more forthcoming about what happened in the aftermath of the gunfire.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy world fell to pieces around me in a heartbeat,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019m still waiting to see how they\u2019re gonna land.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLauren recalled being arrested and taken to jail, with newspaper headlines saying she was booked on suspicion of attempted murder. Inside her cell, she says, she tried to memorize the graffiti on the walls.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt gave me a chance to get out of my head for those hours in the jail cell and imagine who else had been there,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the throes of it, I was saying I will never do a book about this because I can\u2019t experience this again,\u201d she recalls. Now, she feels differently. \u201cBooks are what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tProsecutors ultimately charged Lauren with negligent discharge of a firearm and assault with a semiautomatic weapon. The Los Angeles Police Department released body-worn camera and home-surveillance video in a presentation posted on YouTube<\/a>. According to the police footage, as soon as an officer warned, \u201cOh, she racked it,\u201d officers opened fire, unloading a barrage of ear-splitting shots. In the soundless home-surveillance video purportedly showing the same scene from Lauren\u2019s side of the fence, Lauren does not appear to react to the volley of shots or exhibit any injury in the seconds after she allegedly fired.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Lauren pleaded not guilty, a judge found her eligible for the mental health diversion program, which requires counseling and random drug and alcohol testing. More headlines followed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen the [mental health diversion] headlines came out, my joke was, \u2018I\u2019m not just a gun-toting criminal, now I\u2019m a crazy one,\u2019\u201d she says with another slight laugh. She then turned serious. \u201cMy PTSD is a very real thing. I\u2019m a victim of sex trafficking and domestic violence. \u2026 When the headlines said \u2018Mental Health Diversion,\u2019 what I really thought was, \u2018OK, good. People are so scared to talk about this.’\u201d She adds, \u201cI\u2019m in a position where I can speak to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLauren, the mother of two adopted sons, ages 13 and 17, is already a New York Times<\/em> bestselling author. Her memoir, Everything You Ever Wanted<\/em>, chronicled her experience with adoption, and Some Girls: My Life in a Harem<\/em>, recounted her 18 months as a paid member of a prince\u2019s harem in Brunei. Her latest book, Behold the Monster: Facing America\u2019s Most Prolific Serial Killer,<\/em> focused on her interviews with convicted serial killer Samuel Little.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tOn Dec. 2, Lauren filed for divorce<\/a> from Shriner after 20 years of marriage. She says they had been growing apart for years, and then the incident with the police pushed everything to a \u201ccrisis\u201d point. The self-care and counseling she has undertaken since then have been revelatory, she says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had to go back and work on trauma from a long time ago in order to try and understand myself now, my actions,\u201d she says. Her goal now is to be her \u201cbest self\u201d as she navigates the divorce.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe headlines about the divorce were the ones that really hurt me,\u201d she says. \u201cI was the one who served my husband, but still, to see it in the public was really painful. It was definitely a day [spent] under the covers, blocking out all the noise. Divorce is painful, I don\u2019t care who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe and Shriner remain proud of the life they built together and the loving family they created, she says. \u201cHe\u2019s still my best friend. We still have beautiful kids together and have always really supported each other in our various transformations,\u201d she says. For the first decade of their marriage, she traveled with Shriner and never missed a show, she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver time, she struggled to \u201ccarve out a space\u201d for herself. Then her book about Little became a massive project, and their interests diverged.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re people who grow. We\u2019re passionate people. We\u2019re creative people,\u201d she says. \u201cYou hope you\u2019ll change and grow together. We grew apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tScott Shriner declined to comment when reached by Rolling Stone<\/em> on Friday. In a joint statement posted on Lauren\u2019s Instagram<\/a> Dec. 5, the couple said they will \u201calways miss the wild-at-heart kids\u201d they were when they met. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ll always share the wonder we saw in each other\u2019s eyes, when we first held our children,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThe same wild hearts that brought us together, carry us now in different directions. We\u2019ll forever be a family, united in love, laughter, and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the conversation on Friday, Jillian said she\u2019s now looking toward the future and leaning on her family and friends. \u201cThey\u2019ve circled the wagons around me. \u2026 When the chips are really down, you do find out who your friends are,\u201d she says. \u201cMy tree was shaken, but it is still standing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n