Man In Homemade Tank Destroys Town

#1 Welder Upset When Town Won't Zone His Property

Marvin John Heemeyer was a welder and auto shop owner in Granby, Colorado, who became very upset over the results of a zoning dispute. The town had blocked him from accessing his own shop and he was getting angry when they allowed a cement shop to open right next to his property and block his access. To exact revenge for the decision, he took an ordinary bulldozer and did something unimaginable.

#2 He Transformed A Bulldozer Into A Killdozer

He took a Komatsu D355A bulldozer fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin, engine, and parts of the tracks. In places this armor was over 1 foot thick, consisting of 5000-psi Quikrete concrete mix sandwiched between sheets of tool steel, to make ad-hoc composite armor.

#3 The Armored Vehicle Was Loaded For A Fight

It took a year and a half to prepare for the rampage. He mounted multiple cameras around the exterior which could be viewed by multiple monitors mounted to the dashboard. This man was so outraged he was willing to destroy a town but maintained the thoughtful composure to include air jets that would blast dust away from the camera lenses.

For armament, the bulldozer was fitted with a .50 caliber semi-automatic Barrett M82 rifle pointing out to the rear, a semi-auto variant of the FN FNC in front, a .223 Ruger Mini-14 to the right, a 9mm Kel-Tec P-11 semi-auto pistol.

#4 He Begins To Rampage The Entire Town In His Killdozer

Food, water, and life support were present in the almost airtight cabin. Heemeyer had no intention of ever leaving the cabin once he entered; the hatch was permanently sealed. Authorities speculated Heemeyer may have used a homemade crane found in his garage to lower the armor hull over the dozer and himself. "Once he tipped that lid shut, he knew he wasn't getting out," investigators said later.

Once his creation was complete on June 4, 2004, he set out to single-handedly demolish as much of the town as he could. Heemeyer drove his armored bulldozer through the wall of his former business, the concrete plant that was trying to block his own business, the Town Hall, the office of the local newspaper that editorialized against him, the home of a former judge's widow, and a hardware store owned by another man Heemeyer named in a lawsuit, as well as dozens of automobiles, and small businesses on his route. The owners of all the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes with the town.

#5 Buildings And Service Centers Demolished

The rampage destroyed 14 buildings, knocked out natural gas service to City Hall, took down several vehicles, and leveled part of a utility service center. Damages were estimated at over $7 million by the time the fiasco finally ended and locals were shocked and dismayed at what had happened. Remarkably, no one was injured except the driver himself.

#6 The Rampage Lasted Over Two Hours And Ended In Death

For over two hours, authorities chased him through town, trying everything to stop the runaway vehicle. Finally, the tank ground to a halt at the side of a hardware store it was in the process of taking down. The bulldozer's engine failed and Heemeyer dropped one tread into the basement and couldn't get out. The bulldozer became stuck. A police office took another bulldozer and blocked him in just to be safe. By the time officials got inside, Marvin John Heemeyer had ended his own life.

It took twelve hours for them to cut through the hatch with an oxyacetylene cutting torch to remove Heemeyer's body.

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