Captain Declares Guard Unjustified In Kent Shooting

An officer in the Ohio National Guard who witnessed the May 4 Kent State shootings and claims that the lives of the Guardsmen were not in jeopardy, was not called as a witness by the Ohio State Grand Jury that investigated the shootings.

"The lives of the members of the guard were not endangered by the students, and it was not a shooting situation," Captain Raymond Srp said to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which prepared a Justice Department report on the incident.

"I did not feel threatened, and I was in the middle of it," Srp, who is a defendant in a law suit filed by the parents of one of the students who was shot, told reporters.

Robert Balyeat, Chief Special Prosecutor for the Ohio State Grand Jury, discounted the Justice Department report, which was not read by the Grand Jury. He would not comment on the Grand Jury's reasons for not calling Srp as a witness.