MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 50-year-old Inver Grove Heights woman faces several charges after she allegedly shot at police officers during a weekend standoff, according to charges filed in Dakota County.
On Friday, Kathryn Mielke was specifically charged with three felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in connection to the Oct. 22 incident.
According to the criminal complaint, a friend of Mielke’s was worried after receiving strange text messages from her and hearing rumors of her losing her job, so she went to Mielke’s home on the day of the incident.
There, the friend allegedly found Mielke sitting on the couch with a gun on a table in front of her and an empty bottle of alcohol nearby. In addition to telling her friend to leave, Mielke also mentioned that she wanted to be with her deceased son.
The complaint said the friend then managed to take the gun away from Mielke after a short struggle. Mielke then went for her gun safe, but her friend stopped her from getting another gun. After pacing up and down the house, Mielke pushed her friend, who still had the gun, outside. The friend then called 911.
When officers arrived and attempted to talk with Mielke over a sound system, she could be heard yelling “go away!” and refused to answer any commands by officers. Then, at one point, officers observed her opening the front door and yell “go away!” Soon after, the first of eight gun shots were heard.
Officers reported that some of the gun shot rounds were fired in their direction.
In response to the shootings, the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office’s MAAG team was called to the scene, a lockdown was advised at a nearby school and bus route were diverted.
Without providing additional details, the complaint says MAAG officers were able to safely take Mielke into custody using “less than lethal” methods. She was then taken to a nearby hospital where she was treated and released.
According to the complaint, Mielke told officers in a statement that she had been drinking heavily, felt a “rage in her head” and wanted to commit suicide. She admitted that her friend took one of her guns, but that she had another one, so she retrieved it and loaded it.
After loading the gun, Mielke told officers that she was “ready to shoot” and initially said she didn’t remember shooting the gun. However, she later admitted to shooting the gun twice and that she yelled at the officers to go away, the complaint said.
Officers later confirmed that eight shots had been fired from the gun. Six shots went through the front window and two bullet holes were found in the wood about the front window.
If convicted, Mielke faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and/or a $14,0000 fine.
