Today is Monday, May 4th, 2020.

On this day in 1970, a protest at Kent State University in Ohio turned deadly when four students were shot by

National Guardsmen. The students were protesting the bombing of Cambodia.

Their deaths at the hands of soldiers galvanized public opinion in the final, a parcast original.

Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes, listener discretion is advised. Extreme caution is advised

for listeners under 13. Today we're covering the Kent State Massacre where

National Guardsmen fired into a crowd of protesting college students.

Let's go back to the Kent State Ohio campus on the early afternoon of May 4th, 1970

at about 12.20 p.m. 19 year old

old Allison Kraus was appalled to see the khaki uniforms lined up in front of her.

The row of Ohio National Guardsmen had their rifles loaded and bayonets fixed to the ends.

They looked like they were going to war.

But the only enemy in sight was the 2,000 students gathered on the University Commons.

The grassy field in the middle of the Kent State campus was an equally popular meeting point

for rallies, protests, and pickup games of soccer and Frisbee.

Now the 113 soldiers seemed ready to turn the lush green space into a battlefield.

Allison watched another student put a tiny flower in the barrel of one of the rifles.

She grinned at the small act of protest and glanced over to a nearby police officer.

The local Kent Police Department had asked for support from the National Guard,

but the blue uniforms still lined the edges of the protest,

trying to keep it within the boundaries of the Commons.

Allison eyed the flower and said to the patrolmen,

...