Kansas Shooting Witness Says Gunman 'Sprayed' Bullets

— -- A man who witnessed the workplace shooting at Excel Industries today in Hesston, Kansas -- which left several people dead -- says the shooter was "spraying" bullets and was alerted to the gunman after coworkers began shouting, "fire! fire!"

"I was working in the weld shop...and then some paint people came out and said 'fire! fire,' and I thought the place was on fire," Marty Pierce told KAKE, the ABC affiliate in Wichita, Kansas. "Then I heard 'pop, pop, pop,' and most all of us went out of the side door...We got out safely and all kind of scattered."

Pierce, who says there were between 15 and 20 people in the area where he works at Excel Industries, added that the shooter "ran down the hallway [that connects two facility's two buildings] and all the paint people were running away from him."

"I thought it was a fire or some explosion," he said. "I didn't know someone was shooting... And we all just started running, because that's what you do when you think there's a fire in the building."

While Pierce -- who says the shooter was "spraying" bullets -- escaped unscathed, he witnessed a coworker get shot.

"One of our robot operators, he actually got a shot in the leg," he told KAKE. "He was bleeding really bad. I don't know his condition. The robot operator decided to look down the hallway and that's when he got shot."

Another coworker, Pierce told KAKE, managed to evade the shooter. "The lady who stocks parts said the shooter was pointing the gun right at her, but she started running and hid behind a tree."

Police said 4-7 people were dead, including the shooter and that there were several crime scenes, including Excel.

Some 20-30 others were wounded.

The motive for the shooting remained unclear.