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USF Football Player First Wounded, Now Charged In Road-Rage Case

GoUSFBulls.com
USF football player Hassan Childs was charged with three counts of aggravated assault while he recovers from being shot in an apparent road-rage incident in Tampa Saturday.

UPDATED 3/28, 3 P.M. with information on the USF Football program dismissing Childs.

Tampa police have charged a University of South Florida football player who was shot this past weekend in what they call a "road-rage incident."

Police officials say Hassan Childs, a senior defensive back from Kissimmee, was allegedly tailgating another driver, Jovanni Jimenez, late Saturday when Jimenez pulled into the Eagles Point Apartments he lives at near the USF Tampa campus to let Childs pass.

Jimenez's wife, Jennifer, said Childs pulled up alongside their car and pointed a gun at her, her husband and their three-year-old son, which led her husband to pull his own gun out.

When Childs tailgated Jimenez a second time, Jimenez pulled over again. Childs pulled up to Jimenez's driver's side and again pointed a gun at them. This time, in fear for his own life and that of his family, Jimenez opened fire on Childs, hitting him three times in the upper right arm and torso.

Credit GoUSFBulls.com
USF senior strong safety Hassan Childs.

Tampa police charged Childs, 22, while he recovers in a local hospital. He faces three counts of aggravated assault and one count of misdemeanor marijuana possession.  Jimenez, 26, was not charged.

Both men have concealed weapons permits.

Childs has no criminal record in Florida.

According to a search of Hillsborough County Court records, Jimenez was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence charges in 2015 but wasn't prosecuted. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing or opposing an officer without violence in March 2012.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that head coach Charlie Strong said Tuesday that Childs had been dismissed from the team. He had been indefinitely suspended from all football-related activities on Monday.

Strong said he met with the team Sunday and addressed the incident involving Childs. The Bulls resumed practice Tuesday morning. "When you look at this university and how great an institution it is, and the football program, it is a privilege to represent this program," Strong said. "And there are standards and there are values that we uphold, and our players understand it is an obligation and it is a responsibility to represent it the right way."

Mark Schreiner is the assistant news director and intern coordinator for WUSF News.
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