Suspect in Hesston Shooting Served Protection Order
HESSTON, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been charged with providing firearms to the gunman who killed three people and injured several others at a factory in Kansas. Prosecutors announced yesterday (FRI) that 28-year-old Sarah T. Hopkins was charged with one count of knowingly transferring a firearm to a convicted felon.She's accused of giving two weapons to Cedric Ford, who was fatally shot by police during the Thursday shootings at Excel Industries in Hesston.An affidavit says the Newton woman gave Ford a Zastava Serbia, which is an AK-47-type semi-automatic rifle, and a Glock Model 22 40-caliber handgun. Prosecutors say Hopkins knew Ford wasn't allowed to have a firearm because he was a convicted felon.
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Governor Praises Police Chief in Hesston Shooting
HESSTON, Kan. (AP) — The police chief in Hesston is being credited with chasing and fatally shooting a man suspected of killing three people and wounding 14 others during a shooting rampage that ended at a local factory. Governor Sam Brownback said yesterday (FRI) that investigators believe Hesston Police Chief Doug Schroeder shot the suspected gunman, Cedric Ford, and likely stopped him from harming more people Thursday at the Excel Industries plant.Investigators say 200 to 300 people were in the factory at the time.The governor says Schroeder "seized the situation," adding: "God bless him for doing it." Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton didn't identify Schroeder during a news conference after the shooting, but said the officer who stopped the gunman was a "tremendous hero" because the "shooter wasn't done by any means."
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Kansas Shooting Rampage Victims Include 'Loving, Kind' Dad
HESSTON, Kan. (AP) — A 31-year-old man killed during a shooting rampage at a Kansas factory is being remembered as an engaged car lover, avid fisherman and a devoted father. Josh Higbee was killed Thursday at the Excel Industries plant in Hesston, where he was a welder. The gunman also killed two other employees before he was killed by police. Higbee's sister-in-law, LaShonda Hinson, tells the Wichita Eagle Higbee "was taught to be a very loving, kind man," and that he adored his 4-year-old son.His brother, Nathaniel Hinson, said Higbee was always known as a "Mr. Fix-It." The newspaper says Higbee was adopted into the Hinson family at age 2.The others killed were 44-year-old Brian Sadowsky, of Newton, and 30-year-old Renee Benjamin, whose hometown was unavailable.
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Wichita Police Gets Funds to Finish Body Camera Purchases
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police officials say their department is receiving federal funds to complete its purchase of body cameras for its officers. The federal government yesterday (FRI) informed the Wichita Police Department it could spend $250,000 in matching funds for its Body Worn Camera Program. The money will be used to purchase cameras for the department's south and west patrols. When the program is fully implemented, 429 Wichita patrol officers will be equipped with the equipment.Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said yesterday (FRI) the cameras will help boost accountability for the officers wearing them. The matching funds were made available through a policy and implementation program that's designed to give agencies already using body-worn cameras the money they need to expand their programs.
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Sheriff: Swim Team Assault Took Place in Different County
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — The Saline County Sheriff's Office says an alleged sexual assault of a Great Bend High School swim team member didn't happen in Saline County, as originally reported, but in Barton County. Earlier this week the sheriff's office said the February 3rd assault on the 15-year-old boy by a fellow swim team member happened while the bus was in Saline County after the team participated in a meet in Salina. The Salina Journal reports that on Friday the Captain Roger Soldan said investigators have determined the attack on the boy happened while the bus was in Barton County. The incident was one of two reported by members of the swim team. The other allegedly happened February 6th on a bus traveling through Ellsworth County after a swim meet in Manhattan.
