Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

There was a clear misunderstanding and miscommunication of the role the National Guard was
supposed to play. There was also increasing resentment towards the Guardsmen as the days had progressed,
as cited in the President’s Commission:
Many students felt that the campus was their “turf.” Unclear about the authority vested in the
National Guard by the governor, or indifferent to it, some also felt that their constitutional right to
free assembly was being infringed upon. As they saw it, they had been ordered to disperse at a time
when no rocks had been thrown and no other violence had been committed. (U.S. President’s
Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970, p. 267).
The congregation continued to toss rocks at the National Guard. Canisters of tear gas continued to be
launched by the National Guard and then returned by students. Jeffrey Miller was one of the men who
partook in casting back canisters of tear gas (U.S. President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970). As
the tension between the National Guard and students increased and conditions became worse, some
students took the opportunity to leave the scene.
More stones were tossed at the Guard. Then, the National Guard gunned down students. Four students
died and nine students were injured. “Altogether between 61 and 67 shots were fired in a thirteen-second
period” (Hensley & Lewis, 2010, p. 56). The four students who were killed were Jeffrey Glen Miller,
William K. Schroeder, Sandra Lee Scheuer (Sandy), and Allison B. Krause. The nine students who suffered
injuries were Joseph Lewis, Jr., Thomas V. Grace, John R. Cleary, Allen Michael Canfora, Dean R. Kahler,
Douglas Alan Wrentmore, James Dennis Russell, Robert Follis Stamps, and Donald Scott Mackenzie.
The National Guard claimed that they shot the students because they were in fear of their lives.
However, many researchers have proven that all the students who suffered fatalities and injuries were
nowhere near the Guardsmen at the time. The main members of the National Guard who did the shooting
were Company A and Troop G (U.S. President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970). The thirteen
casualties by name, distance from National Guard, as well as deaths and injuries sustained were:
241