ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A couple charged with felonious assault in connection with guns being drawn during an altercation in an Orion Township parking lot have been bound over for trial.
Jillian Wuestenberg and Eric Wuestenberg were arrested and charged earlier this month. Video of the incident went viral on social media. It shows Jillian pointing a gun at a Black woman and her two teenagers outside a Chipotle restaurant.
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There were no physical injuries reported.
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The couple said they had ordered dinner for their four children and themselves and went to the Chipotle to pick it up. Jillian Wuestenberg was walking out with the food when a 15-year-old girl said she bumped into her. Jillian Wuestenberg said she thought she bumped into the door and not into a person.
“I was at the sliding door of the van and she came out and proceeded to yell at me,” Jillian Wuestenberg said. “From the moment she started speaking she was very aggressive.”
The confrontation continued escalating. The mother of the 15-year-old, Takelia Hill, and the teen were calling the Wuestenbergs racists.
Attorneys for both parties said their clients were overwhelmed after the video went viral.
“She’s emotionally a wreck and her kids -- she had a 5-year-old, a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old present. They saw this,” said Chris Quinn, the Hill family attorney. “I think the country as a whole is tired of seeing situations where you have unarmed Blacks having firearms pointed at them.”
The Wuestenbergs said they’ve received death threats and have temporarily moved out of their home. They are out on bond.
Eric Wuestenberg was fired from his job at Oakland University the day after this happened. His wife was fired from her job on Thursday.
They waived their right to a preliminary examination on Tuesday and Judge Julie A. Nicholson, of 52nd District Court, bound them over to stand trial on the charges.
Both Wuestenbergs are CPL holders.
A next court date has not been set.