HESSTON, Kan. Feb. 26, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A man wounded three people then stormed into the central Kansas factory where he worked on Thursday evening, shooting 15 others, and killing three of them, before a police officer fatally shot him.
The man, identified as Cedric Ford, a 38-year-old plant worker, had just been served a protection from abuse order Thursday afternoon and police suspect that might have triggered the attack.
The attack at the Excel Industries lawnmower parts plant in Hesston ended with gunfire being exchanged between Ford and the police officer who killed him.
On Friday, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton described the officer as a “tremendous hero” because there were still 200 to 300 other people in the factory and the “shooter wasn’t done by any means.”
“Had that Hesston officer not done what he did, this would be a whole lot more tragic,” Walton said.
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, fleeing from an officer, aggravated fleeing, carrying a concealed weapon, all from Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Records show Ford was released from the Florida Department of Corrections in February 2007. It was unclear whether he had completed probation.
According to the Wichita Eagle, Ford has also had criminal cases in Harvey County, including a misdemeanor conviction in a 2008 fighting or brawling case and various traffic violations from 2014 and 2015.
The shooting came less than a week after a man opened fire at several locations in the Kalamazoo, Michigan, area, leaving six people dead and two severely wounded. There is still no known motive in those attacks.
Eleven of the people wounded in Thursday’s attack were taken to two Wichita hospitals, where one was in critical condition, five were in serious condition, and five were in fair condition Friday morning, hospital officials said. The others were taken to a Newton hospital, and their conditions weren’t immediately available.
While driving to the factory, the gunman shot a man on the street in the nearby town of Newton, striking him in the shoulder. A short time later, he shot someone else in the leg at an intersection.
Hesston is a community of about 3,700 residents about 35 miles north of Wichita.
