Hesston, a town of fewer than 4,000 residents and home to Hesston College (founded by the Mennonite church in 1909), is a quiet little town. Hesston exemplifies the way of life to which people refer when they mention the heartland of America - what they mean when they compare the violence of big cities to the quiet of small towns.
About 10 years ago, Hunky Husband was called upon, by the organization with whom we volunteer, to check out the activities surrounding a wild, grass fire up in Harvey County, Kansas - near the City of Hesston. As one in-training to become a liaison to governmental organizations, I accompanied him to see how he dealt with the emergency management and fire department officials. Since then, I've provided coordination with many different governments - local, state, and federal - but that first taste of on-the-job training has stayed with me.
Fast forward to three days ago. Late in the afternoon, I was party to a conference call among 10-15 people who are planning a disaster response training institute in early April. Our organization's local disaster program manager, who chaired the call, asked a volunteer who works in mental health to stay on the line with her after the call ended and, in the meantime, to watch the local TV news. Because my cellphone battery died toward the end of the call, when I checked back in, the conference call had ended and only the two of them were still on the line. Overhearing just enough to realize what had happened, I quickly hung up - and turned on the TV in my den. From that point (nearly 5pm, local) until I went to bed, several hours later, the local news was all about an incident in Hesston KS. On that day, The Wichita Eagle newspaper posted:
Four dead, including gunman, in Kansas workplace shooting
Authorities say a man who opened fire on the central Kansas factory where he worked was served with a protection from abuse order shortly before the attack.
Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said Friday that the sheriff’s office served the suspect, Cedric Ford, 38, with the order at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Excel plant where he worked.
Walton said he thinks that it was likely what triggered the attack, which began about 90 minutes later.
He says such orders are typically served “because there’s some type of violence in a relationship,” but he declined to specify the nature of the relationship in question or to disclose the attacker’s name.
Four people, including Ford, were killed Thursday. In all, Ford shot 17 people, according to officials, killing three.
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