A Mason City woman is in the hospital after an apparent assault and suicide. Palo Alto County Sheriff’s deputies got a call from 56-year-old Kolleen Pattison around 2 p.m. Thursday and she told them she had been hit on the back of the head with a pistol.
Pattison fled in the attacker’s car and called deputies. Pattison says as she was escaping, she heard a shot and saw the man fall. Deputies found 36-year-old Tracy Thompson, a neighbor, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Officials believe Thompson was asking about hunting when the assault occurred. Thompson’s body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. Deputies found a .22 semi-automatic pistol and a spent shell at the scene.