The British soldiers are clearly guilty of murder. The colonist did not provoke the soldiers to fire, except for a couple of snowballs being thrown. This is not an excuse for the soldiers to shoot unarmed colonists. Joseph Petty, a colonists and eyewitness, states that,”The whole time I was in King Street, I saw no insult or abuse offered the soldiers.” (Document 2) The soldiers had no reason to fire into the crowd of colonist because they were in no danger. The soldiers can defend themselves if they were in no danger to begin with. In the contrary, soldiers were abusing colonists. James Bowdoin, a colonist, says, “many persons were insulted and abused in various parts of the town by groups of armed soldiers prowling the streets.” The soldiers
