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Sheriff: Up to 7 dead, 20 injured in Kansas workplace shooting
Wichita Eagle ^ | February 25, 2016

Posted on 02/25/2016 6:25:35 PM PST by TroutStalker

HESSTON, Kan.

A workplace shooting in Hesston, about 35 miles north of Wichita, has left four to seven people dead and injured as many as 20, according to Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton.

The sheriff said the number of people injured could be as high as 30.

“This is just a horrible incident here,” he said. “Itâ€TMs going to be a lot of sad people before this is all over.”

The shooting at Excel Industries was reported shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, a Harvey County dispatcher said.

Walton later confirmed that a suspect, an employee at the turf care products manufacturer, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. The shooter, a Harvey County resident, was armed with a long rifle and a handgun, according to Walton.

Via Christi Hospital St. Francis in Wichita received seven victims from the shooting, according to a spokeswoman. She said that five victims were in serious condition and two were in fair condition.

An official with Wesley Medical Center said it was treating three patients Thursday evening. Their conditions were unknown.

Newton Medical Center in Newton received four patients. Three are in satisfactory condition and one was transferred to Wesley Medical Center because of broken bones, according to CEO Steve Kelly.

The shooting started just a few hours into the shift at Excel.

An employee who said he was in the plant at of the time of the shooting said he heard gunshots and people shouting to get out of the building.

“Everybody was running,” said the employee, who did not to give his name.

He said the man, whom he recognized as a co-worker, seemed to be on a rampage.

“He was coming at everybody,” the employee said.

He said he noticed two weapons: an AK-47 and some type of handgun.

Marty Pierce said he was working in the welding shop when he heard the paint guys yelling, “Fire. Fire. Fire.”

He said he thought the building was an fire and was ready to leave when he heard a pop, pop, pop and saw people scattering and running outside. He left the building through a side door. Outside, he said he ran into a female co-worker who said the shooter followed her outside. She hid behind a tree.

The shift began at 2:45 p.m. and was supposed to end at 1:15 a.m.

The first reports of shots fired came at 5 p.m.

Numerous law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies were scattered through the Excel parking lot. One holding a rifle appeared to be standing guard to an entrance to the building. Other officers appeared to be looking through vehicles in parking lot.

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Kansas
KEYWORDS: cedricford; deathtoll; excel; shooting; workplaceviolence
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Shooter is dead

cedric ford, cedric ford hesston kansas, cedric ford excel industries

Cedric Ford.

1 posted on 02/25/2016 6:25:35 PM PST by TroutStalker
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To: TroutStalker

When I first saw this I assumed it was MBPXL which is usually abbreviated to Exel, which is a beef packing plant.

Turns out it is something else entirely.


2 posted on 02/25/2016 6:28:23 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: TroutStalker

Creepy eyes.


3 posted on 02/25/2016 6:29:07 PM PST by rdl6989
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To: TroutStalker

schitzo or jihadi...we’ll know in the next couple of days. A real freakshow in either case.


4 posted on 02/25/2016 6:31:10 PM PST by absalom01 (You should do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, and you should never wish to do less.)
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To: TroutStalker

Another Onambla voter goes on a killng spree.....


5 posted on 02/25/2016 6:32:03 PM PST by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: TroutStalker

I’d have shot the sumbitch just for looking at me like that, but I bet the plant is a “gun free zone.”


6 posted on 02/25/2016 6:33:05 PM PST by PLMerite (The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: TroutStalker

Guy has a grand theft auto conviction in his LONG rap sheet.

We need to make it illegal for felons to possess guns!

/s

Prayers for all involved.


7 posted on 02/25/2016 6:33:28 PM PST by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: non vehere est inermus)
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To: Ouderkirk

Well he will not be doing any more killing but he will probably keep voting for many years.


8 posted on 02/25/2016 6:33:49 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: TroutStalker

Lots of angel tattoos.


9 posted on 02/25/2016 6:34:04 PM PST by catbertz
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To: TroutStalker

Well cedric, it seems all those moronic tattoos were a waste, just like your worthless life. Too bad the wimps let you off for all your previous violent offenses.

Say hello to Mary you worthless POS ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRsumdiOfZs&list=PLxfmTO08YA4ye-T9iwpRU3uG-_2EE6X4B&index=14


10 posted on 02/25/2016 6:34:39 PM PST by soycd
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To: absalom01

Nah, he doesn’t fit the media narrative for mass shootings. This’ll be buried.


11 posted on 02/25/2016 6:34:56 PM PST by ItsOurTimeNow (Cleganebowl 2016 - GET HYPE!)
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To: rdl6989

Sudden jihadi syndrome?


12 posted on 02/25/2016 6:35:01 PM PST by pingman (Cruz or lose!)
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To: TroutStalker

Multiple eyewitnesses and employees at Excel Industries identify the shooter as Cedric Ford, 38, an employee at the company in Hesston. Ford lived in Newton.

According to Florida court documents, he was charged with multiple crimes in his history, including burglary, grand theft, fleeing and eluding and other charges dating back to 1996. Ford was also booked in Sedgwick County in 2008. Eyewitness News has not confirmed the charges in the Sedgwick County arrest.

His Facebook page says he was a painter at Excel.


13 posted on 02/25/2016 6:35:48 PM PST by kcvl
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To: catbertz

Companies need to hire more ex-felons who have had their long prison records expunged from employment applications. They have served their time and need a “second chance” from a mean and racist society /sarc.


14 posted on 02/25/2016 6:38:34 PM PST by wetgundog ("Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice" -AuH2O)
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To: TroutStalker

The gunman in the Kansas workplace shooting has been identified by multiple co-workers as Cedric Ford, according to Wichita TV station KWCH.

Mr. Ford’s name had been said in an interview with a victim’s relative earlier in the day on KAKE, but the station refused to re-air it.

Mr. Ford’s Facebook page identified him as a painter at Excel Industries.

Multiple eyewitnesses on KAKE had said the gunman was a black man wielding an assault rifle. Mr. Ford is black and multiple pictures on his Facebook page showed him with rifles and handguns.

“Lol I’m ok really just doing my thing as things,” Mr. Ford wrote in a Facebook comment under photos and videos of him shooting rifles. “Come on it’s sexy a little bit.”

His partner at the plant told KWCH that Mr. Ford didn’t have violent or erratic tendencies and that he had talked to Mr. Ford earlier in the day and all seemed fine.

But Mr. Ford had a criminal record. He was arrested in 2010 on domestic violence and drug-related charges. He also had a criminal record in his native Florida, KWCH reported.

His Facebook page also included photos of two children — a son and a daughter, both apparently pre-adolescents.

He lived in a trailer park in nearby Newton.


15 posted on 02/25/2016 6:40:36 PM PST by kcvl
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To: TroutStalker

Sheesh. Condolences to family and friends of the innocent victims.


16 posted on 02/25/2016 6:41:49 PM PST by PGalt
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To: absalom01
schitzo or jihadi...we'll know in the next couple of days. A real freakshow in either case.

If it was a jihadi, the government will do EVERYTHING in their power to cover it up. Or maybe if the government says nothing, then maybe we can assume it WAS a jihadi.

17 posted on 02/25/2016 6:43:05 PM PST by Mark17 (Thank God I have Jesus, there's more wealth in my soul than acres of diamonds and mountains of gold)
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To: TroutStalker

The shooter is black, so we should be spared a gun control lecture from 0bama. So it will as if this did not happen.


18 posted on 02/25/2016 6:49:16 PM PST by Angels27
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To: wetgundog

I almost missed your sarcasm tag ;)


19 posted on 02/25/2016 6:49:29 PM PST by catbertz
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To: TroutStalker

Black guys matter


20 posted on 02/25/2016 6:49:57 PM PST by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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