Kent State Day Of Remembrance Honors Virginia Tech Tragedy

Friday, May 4th 2007, 11:38 am

By: News On 6

KENT, Ohio (AP) _ Campus tragedies separated by more than a generation linked Kent State and Virginia Tech universities on Friday, as students on the Ohio campus marked the shooting deaths 37 years apart.

A bell on the campus of Kent State _ rung each year to mark the Ohio National Guard shooting deaths of four students during anti-war protests on May 4, 1970 _ first rang out 32 times to honor victims slain April 16 at Virginia Tech by a rampaging gunman.

``I choked up. It's an emotional thing,'' said senior Sarah Lund-Goldstein, who is part of the campus group that organized the commemoration. ``We feel it's very important to understand that a grieving campus is not just one from 37 years ago.''

The ceremony came days after a survivor of the Kent State shootings, Alan Canfora, claimed that an analysis of static-filled audio from the 1970 campus shootings revealed a military order to open fire. It has long been a mystery what prompted the 13 seconds of gunfire.

FBI investigators said they could only speculate whether an order had been given to fire. One theory was that a Guardsman panicked or fired intentionally at a student and that others fired when they heard the shot.