Photography has shaped the American memory of the May 4, 1970, Kent State shootings.
The image of a young woman screaming in horror as she crouches beside the body of a student has become the defining moment of the day when National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio.
This year, on the 49th anniversary of the shooting, history’s lens has gotten a little wider. Getty Images has released previously unpublished pictures revealing the weekend leading up to the tragedy, the moments when the guards opened fire and the grief afterwards.
Ruffner, a second-year-student who had learned about photography while serving in the U.S. Air Force, was working on the university’s yearbook. Recruited as a freelance photographer by LIFE magazine, he snapped photos after students set fire to the campus’ ROTC building and National Guardsmen began to take over the school grounds. The campus was mostly empty, because Kent State was known to be a “suitcase school” – where students leave on the weekend, Ruffner told TIME.
Students were arriving back on campus on May 4 – a Monday – and about 500 people gathered for a rally to protest the presence of the National Guard and the Vietnam War at around 12 p.m.
Ruffner said he was standing about 80 feet from the soldiers when they opened fire on the protesters.