Actually no. They were defending themselves (quite lawfully) against
a rampaging and riotous mob of rock and bottle throwers hell bent on
harming them.

Those Guardsmen must have thought the students had pretty strong arms. You
going to do much damage to somebody with a rock or a bottle from 350-400 feet?

* Jeffrey Miller was shot through the head 275 feet away;
* Allison Krause was shot through the arm & chest 350 feet away;
* Bill Schroeder was shot in the back nearly 400 feet away;
* Sandy Scheuer was shot through the throat nearly 400 feet away.



Gunner, who was at Kent State a week later, and knew a number of the
Guard and rioters


Since there were no rioters, I guess that
means you knew a number of the guard.

For an eyewitness account, you might try
this site:

http://home.sprynet.com/~acanfora/