For the second time in latest months, the civilian fee that oversees the LAPD has overruled Chief Jim McDonnell in a police capturing, concluding that officers had been within the unsuitable after they shot at Jillian Lauren, an writer and the estranged spouse of Weezer bass participant Scott Shriner.
McDonnell wrote in a report made public Thursday that two officers had been justified in utilizing lethal pressure in opposition to Lauren, 52, who pointed a gun and fired at officers throughout a standoff within the yard of her Eagle Rock dwelling final April.
However the Police Fee took the uncommon step of going in opposition to McDonnell’s advice, discovering fault with the capturing and concluding that the officers made severe tactical errors.
Though the five-member panel is the ultimate authority on whether or not a police capturing is in or out of coverage, the chief has ultimate say on officer self-discipline. Such choices are not often made public due to state police privateness legal guidelines.
The incident started at about 5:20 p.m. on April 8, 2025, when police responded to a request for assist from the California Freeway Patrol in monitoring down three suspects needed in a hit-and-run crash. Officers Joshua Wolak and Dorian Zhou joined within the search, together with a number of others from the close by Northeast patrol station.
Physique-worn digital camera footage launched by the division confirmed Wolak, Zhou and a CHP officer standing on a retaining wall subsequent to a fence that separated a neighbor’s dwelling from Lauren’s property. The LAPD video exhibits Lauren, sporting a purple Weezer T-shirt and black tights, stroll across the yard with a black handgun, trying round as if she had been on excessive alert.
Police mentioned that officers yelled at Lauren to drop her gun for a number of minutes, earlier than she shot a spherical of their path. Wolak then fired seven rounds, whereas Zhou shot 5 from a distance of roughly 50 ft.
Lauren was not related to the hit-and-run incident, authorities mentioned. Audio from a 911 name by certainly one of Lauren’s neighbors indicated that Lauren believed she was being fired at by armed suspects, who had been noticed working via neighboring properties.
After the capturing, Lauren retreated into her dwelling, the place she stayed for about an hour till an officer known as her private assistant, who was additionally inside. She was later taken to an space hospital with a gunshot wound to her left arm, police mentioned.
Throughout his interview with inner investigators, Zhou mentioned he noticed Lauren elevate the handgun at a 45-degree angle, “rack” the slide to chamber a spherical and fireplace at officers. In response, he mentioned, he fired 5 rounds, aiming at her middle mass.
He responded that he stopped firing “as a result of I overpassed her.”
The fee voted unanimously to rule the officers’ resolution to shoot out of coverage. Officers usually don’t publicly talk about the rationale for reaching sure choices.
Each the fee and the chief had been important of the command choices of Sgt. Albert Hoang on the scene, noting his failure to make sure that the officers concerned had been interviewed and the truth that he didn’t notify his higher-ups in regards to the capturing till three hours after it occurred.
The civilian panel additionally diverged from McDonnell in assessing the tactical errors made by Hoang and the 2 officers. In his report, McDonnell discovered that the differing ways utilized by CHP and LAPD solely contributed to the confusion in what was already a fraught scenario.
McDonnell wrote that he desires to develop protocols to make sure that if an identical incident had been to come up “the opposite company must be directed to disengage from the tactical portion of the incident or, as practicable, positioned able and position that minimizes the co- mingling of ways.”
In a 4-1 vote, the fee additionally determined that the officers’ resolution to attract their weapons didn’t adjust to LAPD insurance policies — one other uncommon discovering.
Lauren was initially arrested on suspicion of tried homicide of a peace officer, a cost that carries a prolonged jail sentence, then later charged with assault and negligent discharge of a firearm. In December, a Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom decide granted her diversion resulting from psychological well being points, sparing her potential jail time.
The bestselling writer of “All the things You Ever Needed,” she filed for divorce from her husband in December in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom. In her petition, she cited “irreconcilable variations” however didn’t listing an official date of separation. The 2 married in November 2005 and share two teenage sons.
Earlier than the confrontation with police, Lauren had been recovering from most cancers remedy and a hysterectomy in March.
Instances workers author Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
