Sandra Lee Scheuer, a 20-year-old Jewish woman, was a student at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. On May 4, 1970, she was tragically killed by Ohio National Guardsmen during the Kent State shootings. Scheuer was shot once in the neck with an M-1 rifle from a distance of 130 yards while walking between classes. The bullet severed her jugular vein, and she died within five or six minutes from loss of blood.
Scheuer did not participate in the Vietnam War protests that preceded the shootings. According to her boyfriend Bruce Burkland, she was walking with one of her speech and hearing therapy students across the green when she was caught in the gunfire. Neither Scheuer nor the young man had anything to do with the assembly of students on the green.
The Kent State shootings resulted in the deaths of four unarmed students: Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, William Knox Schroeder, and Sandra Lee Scheuer. The incident led to widespread protests and a national student strike, causing hundreds of campuses to close due to both violent and non-violent demonstrations. The Kent State campus remained closed for six weeks. Five days after the shootings, 100,000 people demonstrated in Washington, D.C., against the war.
Despite the tragedy, Scheuer is remembered for her passion to help others. She was an honors student in speech therapy and had a goal to help stroke victims find their voices again. Her need to help others may have stemmed from her father's experiences as a Jew who fled Germany during Hitler's rise to power. Scheuer's memory is honored annually at Kent State University, and an exhibit called "Sandy's Scrapbook" was created in her memory.
There were no arrests, suspects, litigations, or murder investigations related to her death. The Kent State shootings remain a significant event in American history, symbolizing the deep divisions and unrest during the Vietnam War era.
