S2E13 - Excel Shooting Part 2

Welcome to Getting to Third Space with Lamar & Tom!

CONTENT ADVISORY: THIS EPISODE OF GETTING TO 3RD SPACE WITH LAMAR AND TOM DISCUSSES A MASS SHOOTING, WITH FATALITIES, AND ITS AFTERMATH. 

In our last podcast we started a conversation with Lamar about the February 25, 2016 mass shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas. Lamar was the Director of Human Resources at Excel and his leadership role thrust him into the midst of dealing with the shooting and its aftermath on behalf of the company. That’s what we discussed in our last podcast.

Today, though, we are going to do a dive into the personal impact of the shooting for Lamar, his family, and his community. 

Hesston, Kansas is a Mennonite community. Mennonites are a Christian sect which are often confused with the Amish because they share a religious history. Mennonites are one of three historic “peace” churches in the Christian tradition, the other two being Quakers and Church of Brethren. Lamar and his wife Karla grew up in Mennonite families and raised their children in the Mennonite church. Excel Industries was also owned by a Mennonite family and Hesston College, a Mennonite school, was founded in the community in 1909. 

Knowing about these deep, pacifist Mennonite roots of Hesston, Kansas is important for understanding and appreciating both the trauma of the event on the people of the community and, also, how they responded. 

If you haven’t had a chance to listen or watch the previous podcast that tells the story of the shooting, we hope you’ll do that before jumping into this one. It gives you important context for more fully appreciating this episode. You can link to that podcast here: https://youtu.be/4DdRiCDbtz4?si=gUsj7IStpa7biEh9. 

We realize this may not be an easy topic for some of our listeners.If, by watching or listening to this podcast, you are affected and need to talk with someone, we encourage you to call or text 988 or go online to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 

As we did in the last podcast, I’ll be serving as the interviewer and Lamar will be in the “guest role.” Now, I’ve opened the door to the Green Room and Lamar will join us in a moment.  

Learn more: 

• Hesston Shootings (Wikipedia) -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesston_shootings

• Officials: Four dead, 14 wounded in shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston - https://www.ksn.com/news/officials-four-dead-14-wounded-in-shooting-at-excel-industries-in-hesston/

• Hesston community remembers Excel shooting five years later - https://www.kwch.com/2021/02/25/hesston-community-remembers-excel-shooting-5-years-later/

• Victory in gun dealer lawsuit: Global $2 million settlement reached with gun dealer who transferred firearms used in Excel Industries mass shooting - https://www.bradyunited.org/about-us/press/two-million-dollar-settlement-reached-with-gun-dealer-who-transferred-firearms-used-in-mass-shooting

• To watch the 2020 interview with Lamar Roth - Leading Through Traumatic Disruptive Events: A Conversation with Lamar Roth - https: