May 4, 1970, the National Guard kills four students at Kent State. Hear about it at Urban Legends and Stranger truths. On May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, 28 National Guardsmen fired their weapons at a group of anti war demonstrators on the Kent State University campus, killing four students, wounding eight, and permanently paralyzing another. The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation divided by a conflict in Vietnam and further galvanized the antiwar movement