Kansas shooting: multiple killed and injured by former employee

AT LEAST four people have been killed and up to 30 wounded after a former employee opened fire at a lawnmower factory in a small Kansas town, police have confirmed.

Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said the number of deaths could possibly rise to seven.

Local media have identified the gunman, who is among the dead, as Cedric Ford who worked as a painter at the Excel factory. Investigators have yet to confirm this.

Workers told KAKE News that Ford, of Newton, Kansas, had mental health issues and was “teased a little bit” when he was an employee.

Cedric Ford. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied

Cedric Ford. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied

In one image posted by Ford his Facebook page, he was pictured holding an assault rifle. He also posted a status in January that he was “feeling fed up” and days later wrote “Man F---” alongside a check-in at Excel Industries. In October he wrote: “It’s so hurtful when you have no one to talk to about your problems.”

There are many picture with children, however it is unclear if they are his.

Cedric Ford pictured with a gun. Picture: FacebookSource:Supplied

The Hesston Record reports that he was carrying an AK-47 when he was shot and killed by authorities.

“The shooter has been shot and killed. He’s an Excel employee,” Walton said. “Authorities killed him.”

“This is just a horrible incident that happened here. There’s going to be a lot of sad people before this is all over.”

Walton said there were “a number of crime scenes involved”. He reported two other shootings nearby and one shooting in the plant parking lot before the shooting inside the Excel building.

Witnesses reported seeing the gunman first shoot a woman in the parking lot of Excel Industries before entering the assembly area of the factory and opening fire. A college nearby was briefly locked down.

“We want to know what triggered this. We need to know the history of the shooter, and then we have to try to heal,” Walton told local TV.

Martin Espinoza, who works at Excel, was in the plant during the shooting. He heard people yelling to others to get out of the building, then heard popping, then saw the shooter, a co-worker he described as typically pretty calm.

Espinoza said the shooter pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger, but the gun was empty. At that point, the shooter got a different gun and Martin took off running.

“I looked right at him and he looked right at me,” Espinoza said.

The FBI and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation have been called to assist in the investigation.

More details will be revealed at a police press conference to be held at 9pm local time (2pm AEDT)

Hesston is a community of about 3700 residents about 56 kilometres north of Wichita, the state’s largest city.

Excel Industries was awarded the Governor’s Exporter of the Year award in 2013 from the Kansas Department of Commerce. The company manufactures Hustler and Big Dog mowing equipment and was founded in Hesston in 1960.

The shooting comes less than a week after authorities say a man opened fire at several locations in Kalamazoo, Michigan, leaving six people dead and two severely wounded.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/kansas-shooting-multiple-killed-and-injured-by-former-employee/news-story/49e38dc2fb446e6c35fce0deda2df660