The shooter shot the other driver as he exited his vehicle, took the vehicle and drove it to Excel Industries, lawnmower parts factory, where he worked.
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Authorities believe a restraining order served to Cedric Ford 90 minutes before he opened fire at a Hesston plant was what led to the shooting.
Three victims were killed at Excel and the series of shootings left 14 people in the hospital.
He had a history of domestic violence, including a 2008 arrest for felony battery and disorderly conduct, and a 2010 arrest for drunken driving and obstruction of justice, the Harvey County Sheriff’s Department said Friday in a release.
Sarah Hopkins, 28, of Newton, Kan., is charged with one count of knowingly transferring a firearm to a convicted felon.
An affidavit says the Newton woman gave Ford a Zastava Serbia, which is an AK-47-type semi-automatic rifle, and a Glock Model 22 40-caliber handgun.
Martin Espinoza, who works at Excel, was in the plant during the shooting.
“At Excel, we are like a family”, said Rick Lett, a friend since high school of one of the dead, 44-year-old Brian Sadowsky. Walton said between 200 and 300 people were in the factory at the time, and the “shooter wasn’t done by any means when Schroeder chased and shot him”. Underneath Ford’s giant flat-screen TV in the living room was an Xbox, and a few feet away on the floor, a copy of “Call of Duty, Black Ops”, a first-person shooter game known for its graphic violence. A judge issues a temporary order for protection and sets a February 18 hearing date. He says “without his aggressive response”, more people would have been at risk.
Walton would not identify the suspect or discuss a motive but said there were “some things that triggered this individual”. Ford was supposed to relieve him, he said, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The first police officer to reach the scene, Hesston Police Chief Doug Schroeder, killed Ford in an exchange of gunfire, said police secretary Jeannine Hoheisel.
All the dead were shot Thursday inside Excel Industries, a plant in Hesston that makes lawn mower products, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said.
Brownback told reporters Friday that Schroeder apparently shot and killed Cedric Ford in the Excel Industries building Thursday evening.
A Wichita police report dated February 5 shows that an officer took the woman’s report by phone shortly after 10:30 that morning.
Minutes later, authorities received multiple reports of shots fired at Excel Industries, where an estimated 150 people were working at the time, according to Walton. A police officer shot and killed Ford during a shootout.
In her petition for protection from abuse, the woman expresses concern over Ford’s demeanor and mental state. Three of the four being treated at Wesley Medical Center are serious and the other is fair, said Susan Burchill, the spokeswoman there.
“I saw the shooter get out of his truck, shoot someone down and go into the building”, Gerald said. “Then I heard a three-round burst, and I knew it was something real”, he added.
Ford enters the building and shoots 14 more people.
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Investigators said that while driving to the factory Thursday, the gunman shot a man on the street, striking him in the shoulder, and later shot someone in the leg at an intersection.
