May 4, 1970
video found on Buckdog
A Tragic Shooting
" ... The shooting that occurred on Monday, May 4, 1970 was located in the small University town of Kent in the northeastern portion of Ohio, approximately ten miles northeast of Akron and thirty miles southeast of Cleveland. The Kent State Massacre began with a peaceful demonstration about Richard M. Nixon’s speech on Thursday, April 30, 1970 about enlarging the Vietnam War by invading Cambodia. Throughout the years many papers, books, magazines, songs, and reports that were published kept the Kent State incident alive. It also aired on television for weeks. All of these sources contain vital information about the shooting itself, the students’ reaction, the nations’ reactions, and more.
On April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon made a televised address to the nation and at that time announced that he was committing United States troops from Vietnam (1959-1975) into specified areas of Cambodia (a country in Southeast Asia). The reaction of some Kent State students and faculty was immediate.
Students congregated at the KSU commons as a result of an unidentified person ringing Kent State’s bell that wasn’t used for years. The students were told to evacuate the premises, but nobody seemed to follow the demands. So the mayor of Ohio, Leroy Satrom, called for the Ohio National Guardsmen from Troop G, also known as the "Death Squad".
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The Ohio National Guardsmen were equipped with tear gas, grenade launches to help fire the tear gas, and fire arms. They were also provided with bayonets. The students knew they would need to defend themselves, so they retaliated. As they were retreating up Blanket Hill they lobbed tear gas canisters back at the guardsmen along with rocks and other sharp objects. They also charged with torches. Between sixty-one and sixty-seven shots were fired in thirteen seconds without order or warning. The outcome, four American students dead along with nine others injured. The four students shot and killed were Allison Krause, William (Bill) Shroeder, Sandra Scheuer, and Jeffrey (Jeff) Miller. Allison Krause was hit by a shot penetrating the left side of her body (through her arm and chest) about three hundred and fifty yards away. Bill was shot in the back four hundred feet away. Sandra was also shot about four hundred feet about but through her throat. Jeff was shoot in his mouth nearly two hundred and seventy-five feet away. A memorial for these students has been erected on the site where they died.
Nine other students were injured. Including Alan Canfora, John Cleary, Thomas (Tom) Grace, Dean Kahler, Joseph (Joe) Lewis, Scott Mackenzie, James (Jim) Russel, Robert (Robby) Stamps, and Douglas (Doug) Wrentmore.
Of the thirteen shots that connected, seven were in the sides of the backs of students showing they were not advancing toward the Ohio National Guardsmen, they were fleeing. Therefore, not every student that congregated as the common was a participant in the peaceful demonstration that turned into a bloody murder scene. Some were walking to and from their classes, other were just spectators of the scene. The University was ordered closed immediately, first by President Robert White and then indefinitely by Portage County Prosecutor Ronald Kane under an injunction from Common Please Judge Albert Caris. Classes did not resume until the summer of 1970, and faculty members engaged in a wide variety of activities through the mail and off-campus meeting that enabled Kent State students to finish the semester.
Records were also broken as a result of the Kent State massacre. One record broken consisted of the most American students killed in one incident (four). Kent State University was also where the largest number of female protectors were killed. ... "
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