ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A woman is facing multiple charges after authorities say she fired a gun while being transported to the Buncombe County Detention Facility late Sunday night, damaging two police vehicles but injuring no one.
According to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred just before 10:45 p.m. March 8 at the facility’s sally port, the secured outdoor area where detainees are transferred from transport vehicles into the jail.
Deputies said Angel Blanding, who was in the custody of the Asheville Police Department, was being dropped off at the detention facility when she managed to access a firearm that had been secured in a rack in the front of the police vehicle. Authorities say Blanding fired one round, striking and damaging two Asheville police vehicles parked in the sally port.
No injuries were reported.
Officials said the detention facility was placed on lockdown as a precaution, which is standard procedure in such incidents. The sheriff’s office said the firearm never entered the interior of the jail.
In addition to charges filed by the Asheville Police Department, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office charged Blanding with discharge of a firearm in an enclosure, damage to property, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, assault on a detention employee with a firearm and resisting a public officer.
The incident remains under investigation.
