Gunshot fired on Kent State campus; suspect sought
KENT, Ohio (AP) — A gunshot was fired Wednesday night at Kent State University, leading authorities to tell students and faculty members to shelter in place while they searched the campus grounds and buildings for the shooter.
A Kent State spokeswoman said a male suspect fired the shot into the ground around 9 p.m. near Bowman Hall, an academic building on the main campus of the university, which was the site of deadly shootings by Ohio National Guard members during a Vietnam War protest in 1970.
No injuries were reported following Wednesday night's gunfire.
The university initially advised people all across campus to stay put while police searched for the shooter, who was carrying a silver handgun. It later lifted the shelter in place advisory for all buildings except Bowman Hall and the Business Administration Building, which were cleared soon after, about two hours after the gunfire.
Kent State University police were handling the investigation into what happened and the search for the shooter. They didn't provide any more details.
Kent State is a public research university located in Kent, a city of about 30,000 residents less than an hour's drive southeast of Cleveland. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region, the Kent campus being the largest.
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on Kent State students protesting the war in Vietnam. Four students died and nine were injured in the shootings, which contributed to the change in the public's attitude toward the war.
Several guardsmen were charged with federal civil rights violations but were acquitted by a judge.
The events of that chaotic 1970 day at the Kent campus still are not fully understood, and interest in them reignited after a 2010 analysis of an enhanced audio recording concluded someone may have ordered National Guard troops to prepare to shoot. But the Department of Justice said in 2012 it wouldn't reopen its investigation into the shootings, citing "insurmountable legal and evidentiary barriers."
