Report: Pistol shots preceded 1970 Kent State shootings

CLEVELAND (AP) — An analysis of a tape recording of the 1970 shooting deaths of four Kent State University students by Ohio National Guardsmen reportedly disclosed the sound of pistol shots 70 seconds earlier.

The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reports today that a review by a forensic audio expert detected four shots matching the acoustic signature of a .38-caliber revolver.

Witnesses previously have reported a confrontation involving angry students and a paid FBI informant who was photographing protesters.

If the pistol fire is authenticated, it could confirm those witness accounts, although the FBI informant has denied firing warning shots from his .38.

An earlier tape analysis done at the paper’s request determined that Guardsmen were given an order to prepare to fire on May 4, 1970, during a campus anti-war protest.