13-year old girl wrestles firearm from deputy, pulls trigger

Girl admits trying to shoot caseworker, deputy sheriff
October 08, 2003
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In the hallway that opened into the crowded lobby of Franklin County Children Services, a 13-year-old girl and a deputy sheriff scrapped until the deputy was on her knees and the girl held her gun.

Hafsa Aboi Hassan pointed the 9 mm handgun at the back of Deputy Betty Ashley’s head and pulled the trigger. Nothing.

She pointed the gun at Children Services caseworker Malcolm Tanksley, who had tried to intervene. Hassan again pulled the trigger. Again, the gun didn’t fire.

Tanksley wrestled Hassan to the ground, and Ashley pulled the gun from her.

Hassan admitted she was guilty of two delinquency counts of felonious assault and one delinquency count of aggravated robbery in the Sept. 23 incident at the agency’s office, 525 E. Mound St.

Investigators said the handgun’s safety might have been on, or no bullet was in the firing chamber, or the magazine holding the bullets was dislodged during the struggle.

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