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The first arrest has been made in this month’s Kansas shooting that took the lives of three people and injured 14 others.

ABC News reports that Sarah Hopkins, 28, was arrested Thursday for providing guns to Kansas shooter Cedric Larry Ford, who police say opened fire at his job at Excel Industries in Hesston last week. The two reportedly dated in 2015. Hopkins purchased an AK-47 type semi-automatic rifle and a Glock Model 22 .40-caliber handgun at a pawn shop and gave them to Ford. She was charged with one count of knowingly transferring a firearm to a convicted felon.

After their breakup, Hopkins returned to Ford’s home with police officers to retrieve the guns in July 2015, but she eventually gave them back because Ford threatened her. Ford was served a protected order from a former girlfriend just before the shooting. Hopkins was not identified, but the order claimed Ford choked the woman on February 5.

CNN reports:

A Kansas sheriff’s deputy served Ford a protection order just 1½ hours before he began opening fire, according to Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton. “I believe that probably is the trigger, and it went from there,” Walton said of the order.

The order was served to him at his workplace, according to Walton. In a petition for the protection order, Ford’s former girlfriend wrote that on February 5 he “became physical by him pushing me then grabbing me.”

She added, “He placed me in a choke hold from behind — I couldn’t (breathe). He then got me to (the) ground while choking me — finally releasing me.” The woman described Ford as an “alcoholic, violent(ly) depressed.” “It’s my belief he is in desperate need of medical (and) psychological help!” she wrote.

Ford worked as a painter at Excel Industries and was fatally shot by police after he opened fire in the building.

Adam Miller, an employee who survived the melee, says Ford hesitated before shooting him.

Via ABC News:

He said he heard someone yell about a shooter and then encountered Cedric Ford, who appeared confused when Miller told him to run. “I told him again and he said, ‘I know,’ and then he shot me,” Miller said. “He did hesitate before he shot me. It’s like he recognized me. I don’t know what he was going through,” Miller said of Ford. “Obviously, he felt this was the way out and so my heart just aches for him.”

Hopkins faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the weapons charge.

SOURCE: ABC News, CNN | VIDEO CREDIT: Inform

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