Kate Ranta

Kate Ranta did what all women are told to do when they’re in an abusive relationship: she just left. But, she was then in more danger. Killing Kate: A Story of Turning Abuse and Tragedy into Transformation and Triumph, follows Kate from the beginning of her relationship to the climax at the end, when she and her father used their combined strength to push against her front door as her estranged husband, an Air Force Major, tried to push his way inside. In an ambush, he fired bullets through the door, shooting Kate and her father in front of the couple’s then 4-year-old son.

Within its chapters, Killing Kate details episodes of her husband’s mind games, ways the legal system let her down and her journey to rebuild her life after the shooting. Authors Kate Ranta and Alisa Divine released their book with the intention of informing women of warning signs of abusive relationships and to share hope for healing afterwards. The book is a rallying cry for women to identify the red flags of domestic violence, support each other through the process and help women avoid entering abusive relationships in the first place.

Foreword by Actor and Activist Evan Rachel Wood!

Killing Kate is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Kate Ranta is a public figure in the gun reform and violence against women movements. In 2012—after leaving an emotionally, financially, and sexually abusive marriage—Kate’s ex-husband stalked her to her apartment in Parkland, FL, where he shot her twice and her father twice in front of her then 4-year-old son. One bullet destroyed her right hand, and another went through her left breast, just missing her heart. Her father was shot in his left arm, which is still disabled, and in his left side, just missing his heart and lung. Although not physically hurt, Kate’s son witnessed the entire event from start to finish.

In the years since the shooting, Kate has elevated her story in documentaries, television, online media, and print publications, as well as spoken out publicly at rallies—in particular, on the steps of the Capitol with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Lewis—and participated on numerous panels nationally. As a survivor, she is aligned with many national and local grassroots gun violence prevention groups.

Kate focuses her work on raising awareness about the deadly intersection between guns and domestic abusers. Kate’s ex-husband was a Major in the Air Force who had many weapons, but she didn’t know the danger she was in as he became increasingly abusive—especially once she left. When a gun is present in a domestic violence situation, women are 500% more likely to die. And, 57% of mass shootings in America (defined as four or more people dead) are domestic violence-related.