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Audio Analysis Brings New Revelations From Kent State Shooting

a_nonamiss writes "The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting today on new forensic analysis by audio scientists Stuart Allen and Tom Owen on a recently discovered audio tape from the Kent State shootings. The analysis suggests that four shots from a .38-caliber pistol were fired 70 seconds before the National Guard opened fire on a crowd of student protesters, killing four and wounding nine others. The alleged shooter, student Terry Norman, was hired by the FBI to take photos of the protesters. It has been known for some time that he had a .38-caliber pistol on his person the day of the shootings, but he has always claimed that the gun was not fired during the protest, a claim that was backed up in sworn testimony from authorities at the time."

7 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Re:70 seconds ??? by moxley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's true. The average gunfight lasts mere seconds...now, what happened an Kent State was anything but average, but still...over a minute?

    There are so many things that are wrong with what happened that day, from all of the evidence, it looks to me and many others like this was orchestrated...someone wanted the anti war college students to be fired on, likely within the FBI - cointelpro, etc.

  2. Re:Cause and Effect by john82 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My brother was a student at Kent State and there the day of the shooting. He had always insisted that the guards did not fire first.

  3. Re:Cause and Effect by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It doesn't mean it was HIS .38 firing. That's hardly an uncommon caliber.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  4. Re:flowers to a gun fight by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Your statement is very strange. The Kent State shooting contributed directly to the US withdrawal from Vietnam by showing the callousness of the Nixon administration and the unjustness of those calling protests "un-American". By remaining, and being shot, they actually helped end the war by exposing the criminal and callous behavior of those leading the war.

    Shooting unarmed protesters has, repeatedly, triggered national changes of policy in favor of the people who were shot. Look up "Crispus Attucks" for an example at the core of the US revolution against British rule.

  5. Re:Cause and Effect by dpilot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Grew up in the area, had friends that (later) went to KSU, was pre-HS at the time.

    My father had a friend at work who had a daughter going to KSU. A few days before this got so bad, she called her dad, telling about what she heard from the apartment above. (thin walls, thin floors, cheap college rental) She heard the students there calling all over the US, lining up people to bring in to help with the protest. She was scared - her father picked her up and brought her home.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  6. It pays to know older people by Suki+I · · Score: 4, Interesting
    From an older friend who was around then and later was in the military, including the National Guard:

    The Guardsmen waited until being given an order to fire. That wait causes a delay. This tape is not new, it has been around, used in various trials and news specials about the incident since 1970.

    He is working on a blog post about it now.

  7. Re:no firearms != unarmed by nbauman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ever been hit in the face with a thrown rock? It won't just leave a bruise; you WILL require surgery, and pray to God you don't have a fractured skull or spinal column (the likely result if the rock busts through your teeth into your mouth).

    This sounds as if you were hit on the face with a thrown rock. Were you?

    I actually researched this once, in the context of the Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian rock-throwers and justifying it with the claim that stones were "lethal weapons."

    No Israeli soldier was ever killed by a Palestinian throwing a rock at him.

    As it turned out, Slate had an article on the more general subject ("Getting stoned: how many police officers have been killed by rocks?"), which reported 3 police officers killed by rocks, 1 of them thrown, since 1792, and none in the last 70 years (out of 18,983 fatalities). Police departments teach that a rock isn't deadly beyond 50 feet.

    I can't imagine how a policeman wearing riot gear, which includes a helmet and face shield, could be killed by a thrown rock.

    (Actually, I was hit in the face myself with a thrown rock, by a neighborhood kid who was pelting my house with stones. He broke the window I was looking through. I had a minor cut from the glass, but no serious damage. I caught the kid and brought him home to his parents, who were profusely apologetic and fixed the window.)