Kansas workplace shooting leaves several dead, up to 30 wounded

HESSTON, KS (ABC News) — Several people were killed and up to 30 wounded in a shooting at a Kansas workplace Thursday evening, authorities said.

The shooter, an employee at Excel Industries, where the shooting happened, was killed by police, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said in a press conference Thursday.

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According to the sheriff, there were possibly 4-7 dead, including the shooter.

***UPDATE with witness reaction***

A man who witnessed the workplace shooting at Excel Industries today in Hesston, Kansas — which left several people dead — says the shooter was “spraying” bullets and was alerted to the gunman after coworkers began shouting, “fire! fire!”

“I was working in the weld shop…and then some paint people came out and said ‘fire! fire,’ and I thought the place was on fire,” Marty Pierce told KAKE, the ABC affiliate in Wichita, Kansas. “Then I heard ‘pop, pop, pop,’ and most all of us went out of the side door…We got out safely and all kind of scattered.”

Pierce, who says there were between 15 and 20 people in the area where he works at Excel Industries, added that the shooter “ran down the hallway [that connects two facility’s two buildings] and all the paint people were running away from him.”

“I thought it was a fire or some explosion,” he said. “I didn’t know someone was shooting… And we all just started running, because that’s what you do when you think there’s a fire in the building.”

While Pierce — who says the shooter was “spraying” bullets — escaped unscathed, he witnessed a coworker get shot.

“One of our robot operators, he actually got a shot in the leg,” he told KAKE. “He was bleeding really bad. I don’t know his condition. The robot operator decided to look down the hallway and that’s when he got shot.”

Another coworker, Pierce told KAKE, managed to evade the shooter. “The lady who stocks parts said the shooter was pointing the gun right at her, but she started running and hid behind a tree.”

At least 16 people were hospitalized — four at Newton Medical Center, five at Wesley Hospital and seven at Via Christi Hospital.

A woman who eyewitnesses said was shot in the parking lot is in critical condition, Walton said.

Workers at Excel Industries, a manufacturer of heavy duty lawn care equipment, in Hesston, were instructed to meet in another building for a head count.

There were numerous crime scenes in the area, Walton said. As the shooter was driving, he was firing off rounds from his car, Walton told KAKE.

A witness who works in the welding department said the shooter was firing off rounds as he chased Excel Industries employees who were screaming, “Fire! Fire!”

“I thought it was a fire, explosions,” Marty Pierce told KAKE. “I didn’t know someone was shooting.”

Pierce said a coworker who looked in a hallway to investigate was shot in the leg. The 15-20 people who were in his department escaped through a side door, he said.

(Photo: Excel Industries/KAKE TV)

Nearby Hesston college was put on lockdown during the shooting, the school said on its website. There were about 375 students and faculty on campus at the time of the lockdown, KAKE reported.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Wichita police offered condolences to the victims on Twitter.

Further details were not immediately available.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.