Hopkins-photo Sedgwick County
HESSTON, Kan. (AP) — A woman has pleaded not guilty to giving her former boyfriend the guns used in last month’s mass shooting at a Kansas lawn equipment factory.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 28-year-old Sarah Jo Hopkins, of Newton, faces one count of transferring weapons to a prohibited person. Court records show she waived a formal reading of the charge and denied the allegations at her Wednesday afternoon arraignment in federal court.
Prosecutors say she gave Cedric Ford an AK-47-type semi-automatic rifle and a .40-caliber handgun that he used in the attack at Excel Industries in Hesston. Four people, including Ford, were killed and 14 others were injured. She has told federal investigators that she gave the guns to Ford because he had threatened her. She and Ford had two children together.