Cedric Larry Ford Kills 3, Injures 14 in Kansas Shooting Spree

Four were killed, including himself, the shooter", Walton said, according to KSN-TV, a local news network, adding: "There is still some ongoing situations happening right now that we are trying to take care of.

Walton said 14 people are at various hospitals, with conditions ranging from stable to critical.

"He was randomly shooting people", the Harvey County sheriff said.

The gunman was an Excel employee, Walton said.

Law enforcement vehicles surrounded the suspect's home in a trailer park in Newton later Thursday night.

The suspected shooter was killed inside the plant by the first officer at the scene, Walton said at a press conference late Thursday. While his and partner agencies prepare for shootings like the ones Thursday, Walton acknowledged that he's no different from most any other sheriff in expressing surprise that he's dealing with it now.

Sitting in the kitchen of her Lakewood condominium, Debbie Darrow described the moment she had to tell her 8-year-old son, Owen, that his father had been shot at the Excel Industries plant in Hesston, Kan. on Thursday.

"We had to act as if there were other victims or someone else inside who wanted to do harm", said Lt. Brian Hall of the Newton Police Department.

"(The officer is) a hero as far as I'm concerned", Walton said.

They then drove to a nearby crossroads and shot another driver in the leg, before stealing that victim's auto and driving over to Excel Industries, his place of work, where he shot a person in the parking lot. The suspect wasn't immediately identified.

An employee of the Kansas company where a gunman opened fire says he was in the plant during the shooting when he heard people yelling to get out of the building.

McCaskill said he'd seen the shooter around and had heard that his girlfriend had recently broken up with him.

A sheriff in south-central Kansas says authorities "don't have a lot of answers" in connection to a series of attacks that included a shooting at a business in Hesston.

Walton says the scene at Excel Industries has been secured. The shooter then goes into the building and at that point shoots 14 more people.

The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene but the sheriff said the incident was not related to "terrorism". Three of the four being treated at Wesley Medical Center are in serious condition and the other is in fair condition, said Susan Burchill, the spokeswoman there.

"Gunfire was exchanged and law enforcement shot and killed the shooter".

He did not discuss a motive, but a worker told KAKE News Ford had "mental issues" and had been "teased a little bit" at Excel.

The killing spree spanned 26 minutes, he said.

Dennis Britton Sr. says his son, Dennis Britton Jr., said he stepped away from his welding bay Thursday at the Excel Industries lawnmower parts factory in Hesston when somebody hollered at him.

According to the Gun Violence Archive website, the attack takes the death toll from United States mass shootings in the first two months of 2016 to 52.

Originally, investigators responded to a shooting at another location in Newton.