Sheriff: Protection order likely led to attack that killed 3 in Kansas

HESSTON, Kan. (AP) – The Latest on the attack at a central Kansas factory (all times local):

7 a.m.

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 with the order at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday and that he thinks 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.

Pickett says the suspect shot two people while driving to the Excel Industries plant in Hesston where he worked and shot another person in the parking lot before going inside. He says the man shot 15 others in the lawnmower parts factory, killing three of them, before a Hesston police officer shot him dead.