Zionsville woman who shot at officers while walking with her children gets 11 years in prison

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — A Zionsville mother who fired a gun at police officers while out on a walk with her children has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Lauren Cupp, 36, was found guilty of two counts of resisting law enforcement and two counts of neglect of dependant, all Level 6 felonies.

Last May , Cupp had been out walking with her children in the Royal Run subdivision of Zionsville when she pulled out a handgun and fired a single shot in the direction of police officers.

Cupp had an active warrant and sheriff’s deputies and Whitestown police officers had responded to the area in an attempt to locate and arrest Cupp.

After firing at police, Cupp abandoned her children and fled on foot. She attempted to hide in a wooded area but was located by a Zionsville Police Department K-9 unit.

Cupp reportedly shouted at the officers, “Today is not your day,” before firing toward them. Her children were only 20 feet away when she fired toward police officers. She then abandoned them in her attempt to elude capture.

Cupp admitted to knowing it was police attempting to locate her and told investigators she was afraid of police due to past interactions. Cupp also claimed to have not fired the gun on purpose, though she did draw the gun and point it at officers while saying, “Mother f*****, play with me. I ain’t playing.”

Cupp could be seen and heard on security footage drawing her handgun, pointing it toward police and uttering the above mentioned phrase.

Despite Cupp’s charges all being Level 6 felonies, which carry a maximum prison sentence of two and a half years, prosecutors pushed for a 20-year sentence for Cupp via an enhancement penalty which can add five to 20 years to a prison sentence due to the use of a firearm in a crime.

Cupp was found guilty of her crimes by a jury in January but wasn’t sentenced by a judge until Sept. 5.

A judge weighed all the possible sentencing options, including the enhancement penalty, and ultimately decided to give Cupp six years in prison for her four felony charges and use the enhancement penalty to tack on an additional five years — the minimum of the five to 20 enhancement range.

A judge said Cupp’s decision to violate her pre-trial release by fleeing the state of Indiana added “significant weight” to the sentencing decision.

The judge did leave Cupp a chance to serve less time in prison, however, by allowing Cupp to request a modification to her sentence after two years served in prison.

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