Police line (illustration)
Police line (illustration)iStock

As many as four people were killed and up to 20 injured in a series of shootings Thursday in Hesston, Kansas, officials said, according to Fox News.

Some outlets reported as many as seven dead.

Hesston is located about 35 miles north of Wichita.

Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said there were "four to five" different crime scenes in the area, including the Excel Industries lawn care plant in Hesston where dispatchers earlier said they were responding to a shooting.

He reported two other shootings nearby and one shooting in the plant parking lot before the shooting inside the Excel building.

The suspect was an Excel employee, Walton said. Some news outlets have identified the shooter as Cedric Ford.

Ford, 38, lived in Newton, and according to Florida court documents cited by local KWCH TV, he was charged with multiple crimes in his history, including burglary, grand theft, fleeing and eluding and other charges dating back to 1996.

A motive for the shooting is not yet known.

Staff at Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita told the local KAKE-TV the facility has received six patients from Hesston.

Two of them are in serious condition, one is in serious condition, and the conditions of the other three are not yet known.

One witness told KAKE that the shooter carried what looked to be an AK-47 assault rifle.

Excel Industries is a family-owned business that was founded in 1960, according to the Kansas City Star. The company is a leading maker of turf-care products.