Protection order served before Kansas shooting; police chief stopped attack

Authorities say a man who opened fire on the central Kansas factory where he worked was served with a protection from abuse order shortly before the attack.

Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said Friday that the sheriff’s office served the suspect, Cedric Ford, 38, with the order at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Excel plant where he worked.

Walton said he thinks that it was likely what triggered the attack, which began about 90 minutes later.

He says such orders are typically served “because there’s some type of violence in a relationship,” but he declined to specify the nature of the relationship in question or to disclose the attacker’s name.

Four people, including Ford, were killed Thursday. In all, Ford shot 17 people, according to officials, killing three.

Walton gave this timeline:

At 3:30 p.m. a protection from abuse order from Wichita was served to Ford where he worked at the Excel plant. Ford was described as being upset but not out of the ordinary.

“He didn’t display anything that was outrageous,” Walton said.

About 5 p.m. a call comes in to 911 about a shooting near 12th and Meridian in Newton, about six miles from the factory. Police responded within three minutes, according to Walton.

A man driving with his two children was shot in the shoulder. A bullet went through the windshield of a second woman’s vehicle but just missed her.

Ford then drove toward old Highway 81 and “went head on into the oncoming traffic,” Walton said. Both vehicles went into a ditch. The shooter shot the other driver as he exited his vehicle, took the vehicle and drove it to Excel Industries, lawnmower parts factory, where he worked.

At Excel he shot one person in the parking lot near the northeast section of the building, and then entered the doors. There he shot 14 more people, three of whom were fatalities, according to Walton.

Walton said Ford did not target specific people, shooting them at random.

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. They exchanged gunfire. The officer fatally shot Ford.

Walton called that officer a “hero” but did not release his name while the shooting is being investigated, as is standard procedure for all police shootings.

“Understand there are probably 200 or 300 people while this is going on,” Walton said. “This man was not going to stop shooting.”

Walton did said that Hesston Sgt. Chris Carter is “another hero” for helping load a victim into his pickup truck and securing the scene. Carter had just gotten off duty but responded to the call. He said it’s a small town and they were a car down, so he drove over to the factory in his pickup truck.

By the time Carter arrived the shooting had stopped. Employees pointed him toward victims. When he entered the building, Carter, who has family who work at the plant said, “What crossed my mind is finding the bad guy, that’s it, protecting everyone else that was still there.”

The Newton police discovered the location of Ford’s residence, a mobile home in Newton. The police heard loud music in the residence and knocked on the door and could not get in. There may have been a roommate inside that did not let police enter. An emergency response team later entered and did not find anyone inside the home.

The investigation is just getting underway, Walton said. The FBI is helping with interviews and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is processing the crime scene. “A lot of photographs need to be taken, things need to be documented, that’s a normal crime scene investigation,” Walton said. “There are a lot of interviews that need to take place. They are happening all over the place.”

Although the shooting was unprecedented in his 28 year career, Walton said, it wasn’t totally unexpected. “I have never seen anything like this. As far as we don’t think it’s ever going to happen here, isn’t that what every sheriff says that’s stuck up on the podium?”

The federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm bureau has taken responsibility for investigating the nature of the guns and ammo. Ford had an “assault rifle” and a pistol, Walton said.

The ATF had not yet confirmed how much more ammo the shooter might have had or what kind of ammo it was, according to John Ham, a spokesperson for the ATF. They are investigating who purchased the guns and under what circumstances.

Just the week before Harvey County Sheriff’s deputies had undergone training for an active shooter situation. “It ran just as we practiced,” Walton said. He added that the communications system that was set up to coordinate the more than 100 officers involved, was functioning as had been planned.

Protection from abuse order

Ford was accused of assault by a woman who identified herself in Sedgwick County court records as his live-in girlfriend.

The woman, in a written petition for protection from abuse that was filed Feb. 5, says she and Ford were arguing verbally that day in the 1800 block of South Green Acres Drive when he “became physical by him pushing me then grabbing me.”

“He placed me in a choke hold from behind – I couldn’t breathe,” the woman wrote in all capital letters in her petition. “He then got me to the ground while choking me.” Eventually, she says, he let her go.

A Wichita police report dated Feb. 5 shows that an officer took the woman’s report by phone shortly after 10:30 that morning. The woman, it says, reported a person “battering her leaving visible injuries.”

Police categorized the report as a domestic violence incident with no children present. Both have children, but not together, records show.

In her petition for protection from abuse, the woman expresses concern over Ford’s demeanor and mental state.

“He is an alcoholic, violent, depressed,” she writes, again all in capital letters. “It’s my belief he is in desperate need of medical & psychological help!”

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Protection order served before Kansas shooting; police chief stopped attack."