Woman Fires Rifle at Buncombe County Detention Facility During Drop-Off

A 19-year-old Asheville woman faces multiple felony charges after she accessed a rifle locked in an Asheville Police Department transport vehicle and fired one round just before 10:45 p.m. on March 8, striking two APD vehicles parked in the sally port of the Buncombe County Detention Facility.

Angel Blanding was in APD custody and being dropped off at the facility's sally port, the secured outdoor area where detainees are transferred from transport vehicles into jail intake, when she managed to reach a rifle that had been locked in a firearm rack in the front of the police vehicle. She fired one round from inside the vehicle; the bullet went through the vehicle's side and struck a second APD cruiser parked beside it. According to warrant details reported by WLOS, the first vehicle sustained roughly $5,000 in damage while the second incurred an additional $10,000. The Citizen-Times, also citing the arrest warrant, reported an estimated $10,000 in damage, though it was unclear whether that figure represented one vehicle or the total. The warrant further alleges Blanding discharged the rifle in the direction of at least three officers.

No one was injured. APD spokesperson Samantha Booth confirmed that no officers returned fire and that they were able to safely remove Blanding from the vehicle.

The Buncombe County Detention Facility was placed on lockdown as standard procedure while deputies managed the scene. The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office emphasized that at no point did a weapon enter the interior of the detention facility.

In addition to charges already filed by APD stemming from her original arrest, the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office charged Blanding with discharge of a firearm in an enclosure, damage to property, two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, one count of assault on a detention employee with a firearm, and resisting a public officer.

At a first appearance hearing on March 9, Judge Edwin D. Clontz ordered Blanding held without bond pending a formal bond hearing. Online court records list her next court date as March 30.

Key questions remain unanswered, including precisely how Blanding accessed the weapon while in custody and whether the rifle had a round already chambered. The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office said the incident remains under investigation.