An employee killed three people and injured 14 others today when he opened fire at the Excel Industries plant, which manufactures the Hustler and Big Dog mowing brands, in Hesston, Kan., the Associated Press reports.

After receiving fire, a law enforcement officer shot and killed 38-year-old Cedric Ford, an employee at the plant, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said in a press conference.

“We’re really saddened by this horrific event,” said Excel CEO Paul Mullet. “My heart goes out to all of our employees, all of the families whose loved ones got injured or killed. We’re going to do what we can to take care of them and bring them through this tragedy.”

The facility is closed during the investigation, which Sheriff Walton said “could be lengthy.”

From his car, Ford allegedly shot two of the injured on the street, as he drove to the factory.  He shot another man in the parking lot and then entered the factory wielding an “assault style long gun,” AP reports. All the dead were shot inside the factory.

The shooter had been served with a “protection from abuse order” hours before the attack, said Sheriff Walton. The Witchita Eagle News reported that the protection order was filed by the shooter’s girlfriend, whom he had physically abused. She said he was “an alcoholic, violent and depressed” and “in need of psychological help.”

Excel Industries was founded in Hesston in 1960.