Five Dead in Washington State Rampage; Third Mass Shooting This Week, Second in 24 Hours

Details

Category: Crime

Published on Friday, 26 February 2016 17:42

Written by Janet Walker

The last 24 hours have been particularly violent as two separate Mass shootings, in Hesston, Kansas and Belfair, Washington became the second and third of this bloody February leap year with a Kalamazoo, Michigan Uber driver being the first.

Details are still emerging in the Belfair, Washington murders that left four dead and the gunman dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Beginning as a hostage situation, Mason County SWAT Teams responded to the scene after the gunman called 911 indicating he had shot and killed his family.

A single female survivor was removed from the scene and taken to a local hospital. Belfair is approximately 25miles from Seattle.

Police units from Belfair, Mason County, and negotiated with the gunman for over three hours before they were able to enter the home. Eleven additional buildings on the property were searched and cleared before the negotiations broke down.

The standoff ended and SWAT entered the home where they discovered the four bodies. Before they could reach the gunman he committed suicide.

The lone survivor has not been able to provide any details or motivations as of this time.   

Hesston, Kansas Disgruntled Employee Kills Three Co-Workers Dead, 14 Injured

Yesterday, media began reporting on a lone gunman who had entered the Excel Lawn Mower Plant in Hesston, Kansas, and began randomly shooting his co-workers, killing 3 and injuring 14 before a single police officer killed the shooter.

Cedric Larry Ford, 38, who moments before he snapped had been served with a restraining order while on the job, has been identified as the shooter.

Renee Benjamin, 30, Joshua Higbee, 31 and Brian Sadowshy, 44 all employees of the manufacturing company were killed.

The shooter also had a history of violence and a fascination with weapons. The timeline has him leaving the plant after being served. Two random attacks on the road back to the plant have been reported as one women barely escaped as the gunman fired through her car windows.

A male driver was run off the road, as Ford driving in the wrong direction forced drivers to swerve to avoid an accident. One driver was wounded.

When he arrived at the plant, the second shift was just beginning. Ford armed with two weapons, a Gluck 9mm, an easy shooting, easy loading handgun and an AK47 Assault rifle, headed into the plant area.

The electric pop, pop, pop, filled the air, not everyone, in fact hardly anyone thought of a live shooter in the plant. Even with the local newspaper running a three column article, headline, photo on the same day discussing how to be prepared for an active shooter school situation.

Mass shootings fill the airwaves nearly every day, they pre-occupy concerned public servants, local law enforcement, and community leaders. Unfortunately they don’t pre-occupy the small communities who line the exit ramps on US Interstate 35 in-between Wichita and Topeka.

Pop, pop, pop, screams followed as the normal second shift erupted as Cedric Ford, the paint line worker, was standing unloading his hate, anger, failures, on his co-workers none of which ever crossed him or provoked the former Floridian.

Ford admitted when he filled out his application for the plant he had trouble in his life and that was behind him. He left it in Florida. He was looking for a new start. The plant owner agreed and gave the man a job. Since the shooting, the arrest record has surfaced with many more than a few infractions.

A process server arrived at the Excel Plant about 3:30pm. Ford was served with a restraining order. His former girlfriend alleged he choked her from behind and she couldn’t breathe. The domestic violence was taken seriously.

By 4:30pm, Ford had left the plant according to Brian Johnson, who said to multiple media outlets he "felt Ford was trying to kill him." He explained the two argued about the possibility of Ford losing his job. Johnson said about 30 minutes after he arrived at the job, so about 5:00pm, he heard the gunshots, screaming and his boss yelling about someone with a gun.

Whether true or imagined, Johnson believes that every step he took toward the exit was matched by a bullet from Ford.

By 5:23pm Ford was killed in an exchange with a single local police officer who entered the plant to take down the subject and stop the carnage.

Survivors are reporting their general concerns over the now dead colleague. The former girlfriend who received the restraining order may be the only person to voice the overlooked mental instabilities of Cedric Larry Ford, now a name on a list of those perpetrating mass violence.

While this one wasn’t chasing numbers, Cedric Larry Ford was armed with enough ammunition to take over the top spot in the ever growing list of Mass Shootings.

Kalamazoo, Michigan Uber Driver Kills Six; Injures 2

The world woke last Sunday to the news of another mass shooting in the U.S. This time Jason Brian Dalton, an on duty Uber driver, killed six and injured two, over a seven hour time period as he randomly drove around, murdering anyone he happened upon.

As the details unfolded, a bizarre, unplanned and random action, Dalton began what is essentially a seven hour drive by shooting spree. None of the victims had any connection, they were all in separate locations, the victims had no ties to the driver or any previous victim.

The drive by shootings occurred, in between fares, with the first at 5:42pm wen a female was shot several times. She is in critical condition and is expected to survive. She was with her three young children at the time. None of the children were physically wounded.

Four hours later, Dalton happened upon Tyler Smith, 17 and Richard Smith, 53, father and son, at a car dealership. Both were killed.

At 10:24pm Dalton stopped at a local restaurant and randomly fired on a two automobiles, four women, Mary Lou Nye, 62, Mary Jo Nye, 60, Dorothy Brown, 74, and Barbara Hawthorne, 68 were all killed.

A passenger, a 14 year old, survived the attack. She is in critical condition.

Kalamazoo, Hesston and Belfair, dots on the American map. Small towns often hidden from the microscopic examination of the big town media, towns now suffering the loss of innocence as the uncontrollable epidemic of gun violence reared its evil nature leaving devastation and carnage in its wake.

Sources: Various