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Couple who pulled guns on Black mother and daughters charged with felony assault

Jillian Wuestenberg, 32, and Eric Wuestenberg, 42, got into an altercation with the family outside a Chipotle in Michigan.
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A white couple from Clarkston, Michigan, was arrested and charged with a felony after a video showed the woman pointing a gun at a Black mother and her two daughters.

Jillian Wuestenberg, 32, and Eric Wuestenberg, 42, were taken into custody on Wednesday, the same day they got into an altercation with the family at a Chipotle in Orion Township.

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office announced Thursday that the Wuestenbergs were charged with felonious assault.

Deputies were called to the Chipotle around 6 p.m. local time for reports of threats involving a firearm, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said in a press release. Both the Wuestenbergs and the family, whom authorities did not identify, had called police on each other.

Part of the altercation was captured on cellphone video and shows two women off-camera accusing Jillian Wuestenberg of bumping into them. Eric Wuestenberg enters the frame and helps his wife get into their car before exchanging words with the mother.

Jillian Deanne Wuestenberg, 32, and Eric Peter Wuestenber, 42.
Jillian Deanne Wuestenberg, 32, and Eric Peter Wuestenber, 42.Oakland County Sheriff's Office

Things quickly escalate after Eric Wuestenberg begins to reverse the vehicle out of the parking spot.

"You gonna f---ing hit me," the mother yells. Both groups begin arguing and the video shows Jillian Wuestenberg get out of the car and point a gun at the mother.

"Get away," Jillian Wuestenberg says, telling her husband to call the police. "Get the f--- away."

The video ends with Jillian Wuestenberg getting back into the car and the couple driving away. The footage does not show what led up to the altercation but Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said that it began when one group bumped into the other.

"There was a bump as they entered and exit. The one person said they didn't realize they had bumped the person with the food bag and the other person felt they needed to get an apology and it escalated from there," the sheriff said at a news conference Thursday.

Jillian Wuestenberg and her husband, who are concealed pistol license holders, told deputies that they feared for their lives after threatening comments were directed at them, according to the sheriff's office press release.

The mother and daughters told deputies that the Wuestenbergs threatened them with firearms.

The Wuestenbergs were arraigned on the charges Thursday and each was given a $50,000 personal bond. As part of the bond conditions, they have to surrender all firearms and are prohibited from leaving the state. It's not clear if they have obtained attorneys.

Eric Wuestenberg was an employee at Oakland University. The school said in a statement Friday to NBC News that it found "his behavior unacceptable" and he has since been fired.