HUSTLER MOWER FACTORY ATTACKED
Mass shooting at Excel Industries
A gunman has attacked a lawnmower factory in Hesston, Kansas on Thursday killing three people and wounding 14, before being shot and killed by police.
Excel Industries produces both the Hustler Turf Equipment and Big Dog ranges.
The BBC says 10 of the wounded were critically injured. Their report states that local police say the gunman, named in US media as 38-year-old Cedric Ford, began shooting at around 5pm local time last Thursday (Feb 25th) in the town of Newton.He shot a truck driver in the shoulder, and another man in the leg as he drove towards the Excel Industries site. The gunman then opened fire in the car park, killing one person, before killing two more people inside the factory site. CNN reports that the shooter worked at the factory. They quote a co-worker, Matt Jarrell as saying "He was a mellow guy. He was somebody I could talk to about anything."
Jarrell describes clocking on with Ford that morning, then noticing he had gone missing. He then saw him arrive again at the factory, pulling up in the car park. He told CNN, "He just parked and then opened up the door, hopped out with the gun on, strapped-up and everything."Ford apparently yelled "hey" at a bystander nearby and then shot that person. "I witnessed him shoot the shots. I saw the shell casings come out of the assault rifle," Jarrell said.
In a later report CNN said that Ford had been served with a protection order earlier in the day, ordering him to stay away from a former girlfriend and were speculating that was the motive beind the spree. They also named the three people killed inside Excel Industries as Renee Benjamin, 30, Joshua Higbee, 31, and Brian Sadowsky, 44.
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