Winona County Woman Held on Attempted Murder Charges After Shooting

Aug 14

A Winona County woman is in custody after authorities say she fired seven rounds into a parked vehicle in Elba on Tuesday night, severely injuring the driver.

Ava Leone Kock, 64, is charged with attempted second-degree murder, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

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Deputies were called to a residence in Elba just after 10 p.m. on Aug. 12 for a report of a shooting. A man told responding deputies his wife had called him minutes earlier from the driveway, and when he went outside, he found her crouched in the driver’s seat of her Jeep with bullet holes in the driver’s side door and windshield. The woman was taken to the hospital with bullet fragments in her eye and brain, which were causing bleeding. She remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Deputies documented seven bullet holes concentrated near the Jeep’s driver’s seat. One bullet was lodged in the passenger seat headrest, and another was found in the seatbelt. Investigators also found a bullet impact on a nearby garage and damage consistent with ricochet debris. They noted that one bathroom window in the adjacent apartment—rented by Kock—had seven holes in its screen that appeared to have been made from the inside.

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When questioned that night, Kock denied firing a gun and said the screen damage predated her moving in. The following day, she contacted dispatch and asked to meet deputies at a park, where she told them she believed her neighbors were committing murders and sexual assaults. Kock claimed she heard them digging graves in the basement and said she decided to act because she believed the justice system had failed to stop them. She admitted retrieving her son’s .22 rifle from a shed, positioning herself at the bathroom window overlooking the Jeep, saying a prayer, and firing seven rounds. She told deputies she felt at peace afterward and didn’t care the woman was injured. She said she hid the rifle behind her stove and placed the spent shell casings in a potted plant.

Deputies executed a search warrant that day and recovered a Ruger 10/22 rifle behind the stove along with ammunition. They also found six spent .22 casings in the plant and a seventh in the bathroom. A local business owner later told investigators Kock had visited her store about a month earlier and said she and her son were working on a plan to “take out” the male neighbor.

Kock remains held in the Winona County Jail. She made an initial court appearance where bail was set at $500,000 with no conditions or $150,000 bail with conditions including no contact with the victims or witnesses and no firearms possession.

Authorities have not yet released the name of the victim. If convicted, Kock faces up to 20 years in prison on the most serious charge.

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