The Other Kent State Shootings: February 10, 1992
Two Dead, One Injured, and a Panicked Campus
I was a Resident Assistant in Johnson Hall that night, and it was my duty night, on February 10. At the end of the previous semester a janitor, John T. Frazier, was found shot dead by a .38 caliber bullet; he was found slumped over a chair in the Kiva, an auditorium on campus. The news rippled across campus during final exam week, and Kent State had just acquired a new president, Carol Cartwright, nine months before. Most students left campus wondering about the murder, but glad to be going home.
We returned to campus in January. The semester began, and Johnson Hall, a 124-resident hall for juniors, seniors, and a few graduate students, was nestled on the edge of campus, near Bowman Hall, a classroom building.
A member of the security staff came to my room and told me to get all residents into the hallways, to close their doors, and to do what was called a tornado drill--to act as if a tornado were coming. "Why?" I asked, and then heard a gunshot. Then screams. I ran throughout the building, pounding on doors, and between me and the security staff member, soon every door had been knocked on. We ushered students into the first floor hallway interior, away from windows. The residence hall was in lockdown. No one was supposed to be allowed in, but students who were in the Common, near the Kent State bell, came running to Johnson Hall's doors and begged to be let in. Another gunshot and soon--tornado sirens. We let the students in.
The security staff meber received few walkie-talkie reports. Cell phones, at that time, were the size of small briefcases, and email was not available anywhere except in certain computer labs. No one had laptops. We simply waited, frantic, until the walkie-talkie finally squawked and we were told the coast was clear.
Mark Cunningham, a 35 year old graduate of Kent State, had been shot and killed by a police officer during a chase. Cunningham had fired at least five shots while running through campus, and some windows had been shot out at an off-campus apartment complex. Cunningham was identified as John T. Frazier's murderer and the person who shot Sarah Smith, a graduate student in education, as she waited for a ride in a parking garage in White Hall. Although she was shot in the chest, she survived.
As the Virginia Tech shootings continue to dominate the headlines, I see maps of school shootings in newspapers and on television and Internet sites, and yet this shooting is never mentioned. Two people died, one was critically wounded, and yet the May 4, 1970 shootings dominate all mentions of Kent State. The record needs to be set straight. Both shootings happened. Both are significant. Kent State's history and the life of John T. Frasier should be remembered, as should the quick thinking of the Kent police force in preventing further harm to other students and resident.
Published by Lea Barton
Published in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, on websites, and in academic reference guides since 1986, I have more than 2,000 articles, reviews, and columns as part of my portfolio. View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentInteresting read! I have three degrees from Kent State, and it's surprising how well-known May 4th is among the student population and I hadn't heard about this incident at all. Very strange.
I was in tri-towers at this time and remember it being a time when we were afraid to walk on campus at night. I was also in education so I was in White hall around the clock. This was a scary time. Thanks for writing about it.
thanks for telling this story. I was in Kent May 4, 1970, was there off and on for many years but have never heard the story. Well done. Thanks again.
I actually lived across the hall from Mark Cunningham at Kent Village Apartments. Used to pass him in the hall - he was odd. Didn't know he was a killer though until the night I heard a lot of noises in the hall. I opened my apartment door and saw about a dozen cops entering his room. That was right after he had been shot and they had finally identified him. Next day I had the Cleveland Plain Dealer knocking on my door wanting to interview me. I just wonder about all of the times I passed him in the hallway and said hi to him - how many times was he carrying his gun? Could have been me he shot. I'm lucky.
I lived in Glen Morris apts at this time and was home as he went through our apt complex shooting out windows.
I was a student at Kent at the same time this happened. So far, this is the only thing I've read on the shootings. From what I remember, the girl was shot in the shoulder in a stairwell just inside a building on campus while waiting for her ride. I actually lived in an apartment off campus right down the hall from Cunningham! Interesting that he didn't "attack" the apartment bldg he lived in but went across campus to shoot at the others.
I was a graduate student at Kent State when the Cunningham shootings occurred. I thought that the girl was shot IN the education building, not in the parking garage. Cunningham was very brazen - he was shooting people in broad daylight. If memory serves, they believe the janitor was killed about 5pm on a Thursday, and he was shot in or near the theater in the student union. I think the girl was also shot on a Thursday afternoon about the same time. The third event, during which Cunningham was killed, differed from all others in that the time and day differed. The police had put out a sketch of him after the 2nd shooting. Before that, no one had any inkling of what the killer looked like. Not long after, I met an art professor there who had had Cunningham many years previously when he was an undergraduate student, and the art prof said that when Cunningham returned to campus, he was very different from before. As an undergrad, he was happy go-lucky, but when he came back in his
Renee, it's interesting how SO LITTLE is reported on this incident, isn't it? And yet it's a campus shooting, as real as any other.
I was in Bowman Hall by myself the night Cunningham was killed, I heard he went through the hall. It is so hard to find any info on this serial killer.
What a frightening experience. I don't even remember hearing this.