The protesters' role in Kent State tragedy

Growing up in northeast Ohio, the Kent State shooting anniversaries often brought conversations with locals about what led to those shootings and who was responsible for lives lost. Recent law says if someone is killed indirectly due to another crime committed, the person(s) committing the initial crime(s) should be held accountable.

Conversations with area residents and facts per www.history.com include: Vietnam War protesters traveled in buses around the country to college campuses. Many Kent State protesters were not Kent State students. The famous Newsweek picture of a girl by one body is known to be a 14-year old Florida runaway, not a student.

Protesters descended on Kent May 1, 1970. That evening drunken thugs rioted, broke store windows and set fires. They were not peacefully demonstrating but terrorizing citizens and destroying properties. On May 2, with a thousand protesters in Kent and worried about more violence, Kent's mayor called in the National Guard. Protesters grew violent toward guardsmen, burned KSU's ROTC building to the ground and blocked traffic.

On May 4, the governor distributed 12,000 leaflets banning protests, but 3,000 protesters still gathered in KSU's common area. The commander ordered the crowd to disperse, but protesters defiantly chanted and threw rocks. My friend's guardsman son's mouth shield was hit so hard by a rock/brick that it broke his front teeth. He was bleeding so badly he nearly choked to death on his own blood with his mask on.

The guardsmen then used tear gas and rifles as sticks to push back the crowd. About 25 guardsmen who had retreated to a hill shot bullets in the air, but some, fearful they were being shot at, shot directly at the protesters. Tragically, four students were killed and nine injured. The subsequent trial acquitted the guardsmen.

Who's to blame? Why not those terrorizing outsiders?

Diane Stevens

Hoffman Estates