May 4th Audio tape leads to Congressional Inquiry

By: Taylor Rogers & Sierra Guterba

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich said they are still waiting to hear from the FBI regarding the investigation into former Kent State student Terry Norman.

Kucinich is launching a congressional inquiry into Norman’s association with the FBI, the Plain Dealer reported Saturday.

Norman is suspected of being involved with an altercation that resulted in gunfire 70 seconds prior to the Ohio National Guard opening fire on student protestors on May 4, 1970. Norman was taking photos of protestors for the bureau that day.

Nathan White, press secretary for Kucinich, said the call for an actual hearing would depend on what was found within the documents they receive from the FBI. If the bureau refuses to cooperate, White said the Domestic Policy Subcommittee could subpoena the information. Kucinich is chairman of the committee, which supervises several areas of government policy and business.

The Plain Dealer reported Friday that forensic audio expert Stuart Allen identified four mysterious gunshots fired from a .38-caliber revolver, the same type Norman carried on May 4.

Allen said he deciphered the shots using a software library that holds sounds from various types of guns. He compared the sound from the May 4 tape with sounds in the library and concluded that it was a .38 caliber.

Allen’s next goal is to try and make out Detective Thomas Kelley’s comment after he took Norman’s gun.

“Oh my God, he fired four times,” two WKYC reporters heard Kelley say. The remark is blocked on the audio by the sounds of sirens, but Allen said he will try and decipher it after he finishes some other high-profile cases he’s working on.