LEBANON, Ind. — 13News has obtained exclusive video of a mother wearing just a bikini who fired a gun with her children nearby as police tried to arrest her.
The incident happened on Memorial Day last year.
In the home security video presented as evidence during her trial, Lauren Cupp is seen in the driveway of a house wearing a bikini and holding a black handgun. She yells an expletive toward officers who are not in view of the camera, then says, "Play with me. I ain't playing!"
A few seconds later, you can hear the gun go off. Cupp’s back is to the camera, so it’s hard to tell where the gun was pointed.
Then she yells, “Leave me and my kids alone! I didn't mean to fire it."
As the gun goes off, Cupp's children are only about 20 feet away, in the direction their mother is looking down the street toward police. Cupp’s 13-year-old daughter is pulling her 4-year-old brother in a wagon.
You can hear the boy scream for his mother as Cupp runs off screen, away from the children. Cupp left her kids and ran off into the woods behind the neighborhood. A K-9 helped track her down hiding behind a house.
The incident started when someone alerted police that Cupp was spotted near the neighborhood pool at the Royal Run subdivision in Zionsville about noon on May 29, 2023. Police wanted to arrest her for a warrant in Hancock County for criminal trespass and battery.
Police say when they arrived, Cupp walked away, pulled a gun from her purse, loaded a round in the chamber, then ran off without her kids - behind and between houses before the shot was fired as police pursued her.
The shot landed in the back of a house, leaving a hole in the vinyl siding.
In November, a Boone County jury found Cupp guilty of two counts of resisting law enforcement and two counts of neglect of a dependent. Last week, a separate jury found her guilty of aggravating circumstance for using a gun in the crimes.
Cupp is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 14. The aggravating circumstance enhancement gives the judge great leeway in the sentence, anywhere from six months to 30 years.
Cupp has been held at the Boone County Jail since October. Her bond was revoked for failing to appear at a court hearing in August. Whenever the Boone County case is concluded, Cupp still faces the outstanding arrest warrant for her in Hancock County. That's the warrant police were trying to serve last Memorial Day when Cupp fired the gun.