Authorities: 4 To 7 Dead In Shooting At Hesston, Kansas Business

February 25, 2016 8:10 PM

HESSTON, Kan. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Authorities said four to seven people were killed late Thursday in a shooting at a business in south-central Kansas that makes lawn mower products.

As CBS affiliate KWCH-TV, Wichita reported, Harvey County Sheriff T Walton said it’s possible that as four to seven people people were killed and 20 injured in the shooting.

A Harvey County sheriff’s dispatcher says the shooting occurred Thursday afternoon at Excel Industries in Hesston. The dispatcher, who would not give her name, said authorities were still at the scene Thursday evening.

Walton said the shooter was an employee and was killed by authorities, KWCH reported. As of 6:45 p.m. Central time — 7:45 p.m. in New York — Walton said the scene at Excel Industries had been secured, however authorities said at a press conference that there were “a number of crime scenes involved.”

Hesston is a community of about 3,700 residents about 35 miles north of Wichita.

Hesston College, which is located near the scene of the shooting, was locked down on Thursday night. The school has about 450 students and is affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA.

Excel Industries was awarded the Governor’s Exporter of the Year award in 2013 from the Kansas Department of Commerce. The company manufactures Hustler and Big Dog mowing equipment and was founded in Hesston in 1960.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/02/25/kansas-shooting/