“I told my coworkers to get the hell out of there, this guy’s about to kill us,” Ernie Munoz told BuzzFeed News.
Orlin Wagner / AP Photos
Ernie Munoz had just started his shift at Excel Industries Thursday afternoon when a gunman identified by police as Cedric Ford opened fire inside the facility, killing three people before he was fatally shot by police.
Munoz, 35, had just moved to Kansas from Texas seven months ago. He worked at All-Pro Fasteners, a company that sells fasteners, bolt nuts, and screws to Excel and has a station inside its Hesston site.
Munoz told BuzzFeed News that around 4:15 or 4:20 p.m., he heard three loud bangs.
"Immediately, I hunched down because I thought it was inside the building," he said. "I didn't know what it was, but my first reaction was to duck."
He then saw the shooter, identified by police as Excel employee Cedric Ford, enter the building and "just started firing off" about 70 yards from him.
Munoz, who is familiar with firearms, immediately identified an AK-47 and a pistol on the shooter's person.
His first reaction was to alert the hundreds of Excel employees to danger. They were all inside a lawnmower production building about the size of six football fields that holds as many as 650 people.
"I told my coworkers to get the hell out of there, this guy's about to kill us," he told BuzzFeed News. "I just reacted. I had to get people out of there."
Orlin Wagner / AP Photo
He recalled running to each production line, telling workers to run outside. Once they had distanced themselves from the shooting, Munoz said, he realized one of the men who had followed him out had been shot three times in the back.
"We all tried to keep him warm while we waited for an ambulance," he said.
He had not been in contact with the victim at the time of his interview with BuzzFeed News.
Police officers arrived shortly after they got outside. Munoz said at one point he saw a black man who resembled Ford enter his line of vision with a gun in his hands. He yelled to the people with him to run, but the man told them he was a Newton County sheriff's deputy.
"It was a horrific experience," Munoz said. "You only see this stuff on TV."
Munoz had seen Ford at Excel industries before Thursday's incident, but had deliberately steered clear of him.
"I didn't feel good vibes from him," he said. "I said hello a couple of times, but that's it."
Craig Fountain, who supervises Munoz, praised his bravery.
"As far as we're concerned, he's a hero," Fountain, who had left Excel before the shooting, told BuzzFeed News.
For his part, Munoz says he may have been inside the plant that day for a reason.
"I almost enlisted in the Army last year, but went to Excel instead," Munoz said. "Maybe I was sent there for that day."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1LiZRT0
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