Authorities say Ford was served with a protection from abuse order shortly before the attack on Thursday.
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Walton said that authorities have a few details to determine what triggered the gunman to go on the shooting rampage, but he did not reveal more information.
The attacker shot another driver in the leg in a nearby intersection before stealing their vehicle and driving to Excel Industries, his work site, where he shot a person in the parking lot, Walton said.
Breitbart News reported that Ford began shooting at individuals as he drove to Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas, around 5 p.m. He did the most damage when he finally reached the Excel building and ran inside, randomly shooting. Walton says, “There’s going to be a lot of sad people before this is over”.
Authorities have a sense of motive, but are withholding that information at this time, Walton said.
The Kansas City Star and KAKE television said Excel employees identified Ford, 38, an employee at the company, as the gunman in the attacks late Thursday.
Originally, investigators responded to a shooting at another location in Newton.
Hesston is a small town of about 3,700 residents. She said that five victims were in serious condition and two were in fair condition.
A video posted on Ford’s Facebook page on September 20, 2015 appears to show him firing the same semi-automatic rifle. Meanwhile, local reports said that a man from Miami, Florida, who has been arrested several times before, was the suspect. Law enforcement officers killed the gunman, who worked at the plant, after he began shooting at them, Walton said. He says authorities shot and killed the suspect.
Jarrell said someone else eventually spelled him and that he was sitting in his truck in the parking lot when he saw Ford drive up in a truck that wasn’t his. He says law enforcement killed the suspect, who was an employee. “We really didn’t know what was going on”.
In December, a husband and wife shot to death 14 people at a workplace holiday party in San Bernardino, California.
Matt Jarrell said he and Ford worked “hand-in-hand” as painters on the second shift.
Hesston College is just blocks from the scene and is now on lockdown.
Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton spoke during a news conference Thursday evening, calling the shooting earlier in the day at Excel Industries “just a disgusting incident”.
McCaskill said he’d seen the shooter around and had heard that his girlfriend had recently broken up with him.
It is not being treated as an act of terrorism, Harvey County Sheriff Walton said.
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Excel Industries, 200 S. Ridge Road in Hesston, touts itself on its website as a “leading manufacturer of turf care products” including Hustler Turf Equipment and BigDog Mower Co. lines.
