Ex-Girlfriend Charged With Giving Guns to Kansas Shooter

Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said Hesston Police Chief Doug Schroeder, who fatally shot Ford, was a “tremendous hero” because dozens more people were still in the factory and the “shooter wasn’t done by any means”.

But on Thursday, authorities said, the Kansas man unleashed a deadly shooting spree – attacks that began shortly after authorities served him with a restraining order telling Ford to stay from his former girlfriend, who claimed he abused her.

A police officer killed Cedric Ford during an exchange of gunfire, ending the Thursday evening attack at the Excel Industries plant in Hesston, a small city about 30 miles north of Wichita.

The Hesston shooting was the latest in a string of mass killings in the United States that include Saturday’s rampage by an Uber driver that left six people dead in MI, the December 2 massacre in San Bernardino, California that left 14 people dead, and the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre that killed 26, including 20 children.

“Understand there are probably 200 or 300 people while this is going on”, Walton said. He was shot and killed by a police officer. “Then I heard a three-round burst, and I knew it was something real”, he added.

Four of the wounded were taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, three in critical condition and one in stable condition, Walton said.

In Kansas, she said, people subject to temporary domestic violence protective orders aren’t banned from owning guns.

Higbee had been working as a welder at the plant for a little under a year, his sister-in-law, LaShonda Hinson said Friday.

Excel Industries is a family-owned business founded in 1960, according to The Kansas City Star.

Sloan, who had worked on the Excel paint line with Ford in the past year, said she heard him say “that a lot of people picked on him”.

Pickett says the suspect shot two people while driving to the Excel Industries plant in Hesston where he worked and shot another person in the parking lot before going inside.

“I saw the shooter get out of his truck, shoot someone down and go into the building”, Gerald said. Walton said because it is an officer-involved shooting, a separate investigation will take place.

Ford had a lengthy criminal record in Florida and Kansas, with past offenses including burglary, grand theft, fleeing from an officer, carrying a concealed weapon and brawling. He ordered flags flown at half-staff Friday. He says law enforcement killed the suspect, who was an employee.

Walton said Ford, 38, a Newton resident, was served with the order about 90 minutes before the first shooting, at about 3:30 p.m.

Witnesses said that Schroeder ran into the factory and hunted down Ford, calling for the killer to come out.

Espinoza told The Associated Press the shooter pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger, but the gun was empty. A few minutes later, Ford returned in a different auto, he said.

While other officers remained outside, Walton said one Hesston officer entered the building and confronted the shooter in the front office area of the building.

Ford had been served a protection from abuse court order earlier Thursday at the factory, which may have triggered the bloodshed, though no motive has been determined, authorities said.