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3 Dead In Kansas Before Police Kill Gunman

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A gunman killed three people during shootings that ended at a lawn mower manufacturer. Fourteen people were injured, most of them in critical condition now at local hospitals. All of this happened in Kansas. Abigail Wilson reports from our member station, KMUW.

ABIGAIL WILSON, BYLINE: Last night, police vehicles were still parked outside of Excel Industries, a manufacturing plant that employs about 1,000 people and where most of the victims were shot. But the violence began on city streets. Police lieutenant Bryan Hall says the first reports of gunfire came in shortly before 5 p.m.

BRYAN HALL: And at that point, it was just a vehicle that was shot on the roadway. As we were responding to that, we got the report of the active shooter in Hesston, so most of us bypassed the one scene and went to that scene.

WILSON: That scene is Excel Industries, where eventually the gunman was shot and killed by police. His name has not yet been released. Hall says it took close to an hour for law enforcement to clear the plant after the shooting was over. This morning, residents in this town of just 4,000 people are still in shock, says Rachel McMaster (ph).

RACHEL MCMASTER: In a town the size of Hesston, you don't think something like this can happen and when it does it affects the whole community.

WILSON: Police are expected to have more information about victims and the shooter in a news briefing later this morning. For NPR News, I'm Abigail Wilson in Wichita. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Abigail Wilson