If it’s one thing white women know how to do, it’s to turn on the tears when they need to turn off the heat from their own behavior.
Jillian Wuestenberg is now tapping into that super power to fight back against the charges of felonious assault slapped against her and her husband, Eric Wuestenberg, after she was recently captured on camera screaming like she was a bad ass and pointing a loaded gun at a Black family after an argument in a Chipotle parking lot.
In a tearful interview with ABC 7 affiliate WXYZ Detroit earlier this week, Wuestenberg said her now-viral actions came from “a desire to live,” and that she felt she was in danger of losing her life after a Takelia Hill confronted her in the parking lot and demanded she apologize for bumping her 15-year-old daughter.
“I was terrified at that moment and my terror is just exponentially greater since then.”
Here’s a full video of the incident:
Despite leaving her car, pointing a gun, and loading a bullet in the chamber in response to Hill hitting her trunk (and accusing her of racism, which I personally think is what really pissed her off), Wuestenberg explained with glossy eyes that she did not want to escalate anything.
“We wanted to go home, we wanted to leave in our car, we wanted the other family to be able to leave in their car. There was no desire for escalation on our part,” said Wuestenberg. “Within moments, a second or two, I had multiple people within two feet of me and I just remember thinking, ‘I am not going home tonight.’”
Dean Greenblatt, a lawyer for the Wuestenbergs, is now calling for the Hill family to be charged for what he described as “ethnic intimidation.”
Meanwhile, an attorney for the family disagrees with the claim that the Wuestenberg’s actions were a reasonable act of defense.
“She was able to get into the vehicle,” said Christopher Quinn. “They were able to drive off. They didn’t choose to drive off. They actually almost hit my client with their van. And then jumped out like Bonnie and Clyde with guns pointed at them. They were going to make sure it was understood they were the ones in charge.”
This is likely not the last we will hear of this case. According to WXYZ Detroit, the Wuestenberg’s lawyers want it to be investigated by the U.S. Attorney General, Michigan’s States Attorney, and for it to go in front of a jury.