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On May 2, 1970, National Guard troops were called to Kent State University in Ohio to suppress students rioting in protest of the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The next day, scattered protests were dispersed by tear gas, and on May 4 class resumed at the school. By noon that day, about 2,000 people defied a ban on rallies and assembled on the campus. Guard troops arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse, fired tear gas, and advanced against the students with bayonets on their rifles. Some protesters threw rocks and verbally taunted the troops. Minutes later, without firing a warning shot, the Guardsmen discharged more than 60 rounds toward a group of demonstrators in a nearby parking lot, killing four and wounding nine from between 20 and 250 yards away. Students gathered on a nearby slope and were again ordered to move by the Guardsmen. Faculty members convinced the group to disperse. In 1974, after a criminal investigation, a federal court dropped all charges levied against eight Guardsmen for their role in the deaths.
(History.com)
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