Authorities identify Cedric Ford, who was shot dead by police, as the gunman in shooting spree that left three people dead and several critically injured

The gunman who killed three people in Kansas on Thursday was served with a protective order by police just 90 minutes before the shooting, the local sheriff has said.

Sheriff T Walton named Cedric Ford, 38, as the shooter in a news conference early on Friday morning. Ford was shot dead by police at the factory in Hesston where he had worked before the rampage. Walton said that Ford was an employee of the factory, Excel Industries, a manufacturer of lawn care products about 35 miles north of Wichita.

About 90 minutes before the shooting, police served Ford with a protection of abuse order, Walton said. The orders are usually served “because there’s some type of violence in a relationship”, the sheriff said, but he declined to specify the nature of the relationship in question.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hesston, Kansas Photograph: Mapbox, OpenStreetMap

When Ford was served with the order, “he didn’t display anything that was outrageous”, Walton said. “He just displayed that he was a little upset that he was getting this order.”

The order was prompted by an incident at the factory, Walton said, and would be investigated as a “trigger” to the attack. But Ford’s motivations in the apparently indiscriminate shooting are still unclear, the sheriff cautioned. Asked why the gunman chose Excel Industries, Walton shrugged: “He worked there.”

The sheriff had earlier described the shootings, in which the gunman injured two men on the street and a woman in parking lot before he entered the factory, as “random”. Ford wounded at least 14 people, several critically. The three victims killed were all at the factory.

“The shooter was actively firing at any target,” the sheriff said. “This is a horrible situation – just terrible, terrible.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cedric Ford Photograph: Handout/Reuters

Barack Obama commented on the shooting on Friday afternoon, saying: “We cannot become numb to this.”

“This happens far too many times and affected far too many innocent Americans,” he told reporters at a stop in Florida. “The real tragedy is the degree to which this has become routine.”

Public records show that Ford, raised in south Florida, had several criminal charges and convictions in his native state. In the early 2000s, he was convicted of burglary, grand theft and fleeing from an officer, and in 1997 he was convicted for an illegal concealed firearm. He was released from the Florida prison system in 2007, and in Kansas he had a misdemeanor conviction for brawling in 2008.

Police found a .223-caliber assault-style rifle and a handgun on the suspect after he was shot dead. Public records show that he lived in a mobile home park in nearby Newton, near to where he first shot a pedestrian from inside a car.

Federal prosecutors announced Friday afternoon that they had filed charges against Sarah Hopkins, a 28-year-old Newton woman who allegedly provided Ford with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun.

Hopkins was aware that Ford was a convicted felon who was prohibited from possessing firearms, according to an affidavit filed by the US attorney’s office in Kansas. The woman is charged with one count of knowingly transferring a firearm to a felon.

Erin McDaniel, a spokeswoman for Newton, said Ford was known to local authorities, but she declined to elaborate.

Recent photos from Ford’s Facebook page show him in a car with a handgun and a bottle of gin, and holding a handgun and an AK-47-style rifle, complaining about his car being towed, and with family. Last September he posted a video of himself firing the rifle into a field.

More recent videos are mundane: a visit to the zoo, music videos, memes. He appears in many photos and videos with two children, at the zoo and at home. Occasionally he left short messages about his troubles, as in September 2015 when he wrote about “feeling heartbroken”. Five days later he posted the rifle video, and a month later wrote: “It’s so hurtful when you have no one to talk about your problems.”

But though he wrote about “feeling fed up” on 16 January, he was “feeling blessed” two weeks later. Ford listed his occupation as a painter at Excel, but Walton said they had no reason to believe the three people killed were targeted specifically.

Excel coworker Martin Espinoza, who narrowly escaped the gunman when Ford ran out of ammunition, told the Associated Press that the man was typically pretty calm. Other coworkers told CBS that he was acting normally when he arrived for his shift on Thursday.



Local news KWCH obtained a copy of the restraining order placed against Ford, in which the complainant described him as “an alcoholic, violent, depressed”.

“It’s my belief he is in desperate need of medical [and] psychological help,” the complainant wrote.

The person who requested the order also described the incident of concern, saying that on 5 February, a verbal fight “became physical by him pushing then grabbing me”.

“He placed me in a chokehold from behind – I couldn’t breath – he then got me to ground while choking me – finally releasing me.”

The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have joined the investigation, but a spokesperson for the latter agency said the shooting appears to have no connection to terrorist groups.

Walton downplayed speculation that Ford was either disgruntled about work or upset about a relationship, saying that police had dozens of interviews to take and searching to do. “We’re only about 15 hours into this,” he said.

He lauded the work of local police departments, in particular the officer who killed the gunman in a firefight. Because there were as many as 200 people in the factory at the time, Walton said, the officer was a “tremendous hero”.

“Had that Hesston officer not done what he did, this would be a whole lot more tragic,” Walton said. The Hesston police had just last week practiced for a mass shooting scenario. They have not yet released the names of any victims.

“I’ve been here for 28 years, as sheriff for eight years,” Walton added. “I’ve never seen anything like this. As far as we don’t think it’s every going to happen here. Well, isn’t that what every sheriff says that’s stuck up on the podium like I am.”

Sequence of events

At about 3.30pm on Thursday, Wichita police served Ford with a restraining order from someone who sought protection from abuse. The order was prompted by an earlier incident at Excel Industries, the factory where Ford worked, but police did not describe what happened in detail. Ford left work for a break.

Not long before 5pm, Ford drove into the town of Newton, firing a gun from inside his car. He struck a man in the shoulder. Police had their first 911 call at 4.57pm from the victim.

He then drove into oncoming traffic, police said, and his car and another went into a ditch. Ford shot the other driver at an intersection and stole that person’s truck, which he drove to the Excel factory in Hesston.

Around 5pm, the gunman arrived at the factory, where more than 200 people were working at the time, according to police. Ford shot a third victim in the parking lot.

Ford then entered the main assembly room of the factory, where dozens of people work, and began firing at everyone in sight. He killed three people and injured 11 others there.

Police arrived at the scene within minutes of the gunman’s first shots at the factory, and exchanged fire with Ford.

An officer shot and killed him, and police recovered a .223-caliber assault-style rifle and a handgun on his body.

From the moment he struck the first victim in Newton to his death the shooting lasted about 26 minutes, police said.