He shot two people while driving to the plant, with one man shot in the shoulder and another person shot in the leg. At the factory, he shot one person in the parking lot before entering the building, where the majority of the shootings took place.
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Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback plans to visit the town where a gunman shot 15 people, killing three before he was fatally shot police.
Three people were killed in the workplace shooting, and a further 20 injured.
The shooting began around 5 p.m., Walton said.
“He was limping up the hill to get over the railroad tracks, and you could tell he was shot in the leg”, she said.
Walton said deputies served the order, typically served “because there’s some type of violence in a relationship”, to Ford at Excel Industries at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
“What crossed my mind was finding the bad buy, protecting everyone else who was there”, Carter said about arriving at the plant where some of his relatives work.
The gunman pointed his gun at Mr Espinoza and pulled the trigger, but the weapon was empty. At that point, the shooter got a different gun and Martin took off running.
The woman, in a written petition for protection from abuse that was filed February 5, said Ford “placed me in a choke hold from behind – I couldn’t breathe”. “He came outside after a few people, shot outside a few times, shot at the officers coming onto the scene at the moment and then reloaded in front of the company”, Espinoza told The Associated Press.
“I saw the shooter get out of his truck, shoot someone down and go into the building”, Gerald said. The officer who killed the shooter was not injured.
The sheriff identified the gunman as Cedric Ford, a 38-year-old plant worker who had several convictions in Florida over the last decade, including for burglary, grand theft and fleeing from an officer, among others.
He also says it’s a time to offer prayers and comfort to the community and not a time to discuss stricter gun control.
“All I can say is, he’s been in my jail a couple of times before”, Walton said.
The Harvey County Sheriff’s Department initially said they believed the suspect’s roommate could be inside but authorities later said no one was there. A college nearby was briefly locked down.
Police go through the parking lot of Excel Industries in Hesston, Kan., Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, where a gunman killed an undetermined number of people and injured many more.
Authorities have not identified the suspect.
Walton said there were about four or five crime scenes in Newton, Harvey County and Excel.
Hesston is a town of about 4,000 people about 36 miles north of Wichita, Hoheisel said.
Excel Industries was founded there in 1960.
Walton said a lot was still unknown about the Kansas attacks, including whether the suspect was still employed at Excel Industries. “This is a tragedy that affects every member of the community and I ask that Kansans remember them in their thoughts”. Authorities are conducting interviews in Hesston, Newton and Wichita to piece together the full story, Walton said.
“This is a awful situation my friends, just bad”, he said at a late evening press conference.
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Walton said the shooter would have fired “until he was out of ammo”.
