As the armor covered much of the cabin, a video camera was mounted on the exterior for visibility, covered by three-inch bulletproof plastic. [5] The sheriff's department also asserted Heemeyer fired many bullets from his semi-automatic rifle at Cody Docheff when Docheff tried to stop the assault on his concrete batch plant by using a scraper. [12] The bulldozer also knocked out natural gas service to City Hall and the cement plant, and damaged a truck and part of a utility service center. It was later determined that Heemeyer had shot himself in the head with a .357-caliber handgun. In 1992, before the city rezoned the land to allow the construction of a concrete factory, Heemeyer was offered $250,000 for his land. Heemeyer's story, at least the interesting part, begins in Granby, a town in a high basin of the Rocky Mountains in northern Colorado. The notes indicated Heemeyer held grudges over the zoning approval. [7], The machine used in the incident was a Komatsu D355A bulldozer[8] fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin, engine and parts of the tracks. For anyone who has read much of my blog, you can perhaps guess where I fall decidedly in the second camp of Heemeyer being a deranged, vengeful terrorist. [1], Heemeyer lived in Grand Lake, Colorado, about 16 miles (26km) away from Granby. "Man who bulldozed through Colo. town is dead", "Granby Rampage Damage Expected To Exceed several Million", "Crews Begin Dismantling Granby Bulldozer", "Rampager was surprised his plans went unnoticed", "Rampages Tanks, Bulldozers, Whatever You Got! "'Something snapped': Suspect called emotional, angry over rezoning fight". He perpetually saw himself as a victim and as the townsfolk of being deserving of his revenge: Basically what all this is going to prove when its all over with is that meddling in your neighbors business is destructiveits going to come back to haunt you. He was described as good-natured, though he threatened a man for refusing to pay for a muffler repair. Over a period of 90 minutes, police watched helplessly as Heemeyer proved unstoppable. Ive taken all I can take. Over about eighteen months, Heemeyer had secretly armored a Komatsu D355A bulldozer with layers of steel and concrete. A tank, complete with thick steel-plated walls to ward off attackers and a couple of guns to inflict some harm. [2] However, he was eventually forced to jump off to avoid being hit with debris. Heemeyer apparently had no intention of leaving the cabin once he entered it. Heemeyer had feuded with Granby town officials, particularly over fines for . [5], In 2001, Granby's zoning commission and trustees approved the construction of the concrete plant. The destruction he caused amounted to $7 million in damages. [2], At this point, local authorities and the Colorado State Patrol feared they were running out of options in terms of firepower, and that Heemeyer would soon turn against civilians in Granby. Owners of all the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes. Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 - June 4, 2004) was a welder and an automobile muffler repair shop owner most known for his rampage with a modified bulldozer. The bulldozer's engine failed, and Heemeyer dropped a tread into the store's basement and could not get out. As well, the sheriff notes that 11 of the 13 buildings that Heemeyer bulldozed were occupied until just moments before the destruction. When the bulldozer's. First, he flattened a couple buildings at a close-by concrete batch plant that he had complained about to the town council. A patriot? Heemeyer had bought a bulldozer two years before the incident with the intention of using it to build an alternative route to his muffler shop, but city officials rejected his request to build the road. 7 7 tape 4 side a 10:12. Hed purchased the land on which his shop was built in 1992. Destroyed In Seconds - Marvin John Heemeyer's Killdozer. Not realizing Heemeyers rage and determination, one of the concrete plants heavy equipment operators tried to block the road to Heemeyers escape. Heemeyer also fired 15 bullets from his .50-BMG rifle at power transformers and propane tanks. [4], In 1992, Heemeyer bought 2 acres (8,100m2) of land from the Resolution Trust Corporation, the federal agency organized to handle the assets of failed savings and loan institutions. 5 5 tape 3 side a 31:29. In the case of the local newspaper, the Sky Hi News, the editor who had always run his letters of complaint ran out the back door as Heemeyers bulldozer crashed through the front. Then he tried to get an easement for a sewer line. Notes found by investigators after the rampage indicate that the primary motivation for Heemeyer's bulldozer rampage was his fight to stop a concrete plant from being built near his shop. Heemeyer unsuccessfully appealed the decision, claiming the construction blocked access to his shop. Aged 52, Marvin Heemeyer was the only man to die that day. He had made three gun-ports, fitted for a About a minute later, one of the SWAT team members who had swarmed around the machine reported hearing a single gunshot from inside the sealed cab. Patrick Brower, an editor who worked at the newsroom destroyed by Heemeyer, argued that he should not be held up as a hero, folk or otherwise: "Ive seen that the way people have venerated Marv and praised him after the fact -- without even really knowing what happened or the facts of the situation -- has been repeated in many other rampages and tragedies in America since then, he says. Nothing worked. Inside The Shocking Revenge Story Of Marvin Heemeyer And His Killdozer. The attack lasted two hours and seven minutes, damaging thirteen buildings. As Heemeyer barreled down on him, the driver tried to run, but Heemeyer slammed into his grader, easily pushing him out of the way. In the end, Heemeyer left the world believing that God had asked him to undertake his rampage. The radiator of the dozer had been damaged and the engine was leaking various fluids, and Gambles had a small basement. Heemeyer's homemade tank also had two gunports which he allegedly used to shoot at power transformers and propane tanks: Meanwhile, early defenders of Heemeyer contended he made a point of not hurting anybody during his bulldozer rampage. Thats not an excuse to go out and tear the town to pieces and shoot at people.. In 2001, the zoning commission and the town's trustees approved the construction of a cement manufacturing plant. Outraged over the outcome of a zoning dispute, he armored a Komatsu D355A bulldozer with layers of steel and concrete and used it on June 4, 2004, to demolish the town hall, the former mayor's house, and other buildings in Granby, Colorado. Instead of building the armor plating entirely onto his bulldozer, he fashioned the top piece separately to be lifted by crane onto the bulldozer once he was inside. He suggested that the townsfolk were jealous of his money and success. He registered for military service in 1971. Really money was the most frequent topic of his ramblings. Authorities examine the killdozer driven by Marvin Heemeyer through Granby, Colorado. After learning about Marvin Heemeyers killdozer, check out some of historys most unmerciful revenge stories. Over the years, he had agreed to sell the land to a concrete company to build a plant. It is unclear whether this is in allusion to the 1944 short story "Killdozer!" He was born in 1951 in South Dakota. Despite the great damage to property, no one besides Heemeyer was killed. The final tape is unintelligible due to very poor audio quality. Although this list did not carry a label suchas "targets" or "enemies," it did list thirteen of the buildings that were damaged by hisbulldozer. Heemeyer then killed himself with a handgun. "Man Who Bulldozed Through Colo. Town Is Dead." "I just think he set things up to the point where you would have to say no.'" Or maybe Im just going to put you down. Then, take a look at some real-life vigilante stories of ordinary citizens taking justice into their own hands. During the 1990s, Heemeyer owned a small welding shop in town, where he made his living repairing mufflers. Brower was in the newspaper offices that afternoon when Heemeyer came by, sending the walls tumbling and Brower running into the street. [1] Onboard fans and an air conditioner were used to keep Heemeyer cool while driving and compressed air nozzles were fitted to blow dust away from the video cameras. Authorities later realized that every building that had been bulldozed had some connection to Heemeyer and his lengthy battle against the zoning committee. He seemed to be very much a my way or the highway kind of man. This negotiation happened before the rezoning proposal was heard by the town council. Thompson's 82-year-old widow Thelma Thompson was living at the home when it was destroyed. He could not function without the sewer line and the cooperation of the town.[6]. In certain circles, 4 June marks the anniversary of "Killdozer Day," a 2004 rampage in the city of Granby, Colorado, that damaged more than a dozen buildings and left one person (Heemeyer) dead. But as any small-business owner in any small town anywhere in America will tell you, the red tape can be a bear. Not long after settling into his new property, Heemeyer was approached by Cody Docheff with an offer of $250,000 to buy his acreage as part of the future home of Mountain Park Concrete. Although no one other than Heemeyer was killed in the incident, the modified bulldozer has occasionally been referred to as the "Killdozer". Here is that remarkable story of the revenge he felt . He was born in 1951 in South Dakota. The tapes were released by the Grand County Sheriff's Office on August 31, 2004. The only thing that Marvin Heemeyer was a victim of was his own greed and vengeful bitterness. Gods will be done through me.. The story of Marvin Heemeyer and his "killdozer" is absolutely true. "Granby Bulldozer Rampage Revisited, Ten Years Later." Keep writing. Volume 90%. Twelve police officers and residents of a senior citizens complex were within such a range. Again an agreement was met, but he changed his terms again, asking for $1 million. It's a cross that I am going to carry and I'm carrying it in God's name. Others could easily have died, though. Instead, he locked himself in a garage for a year secretly building a tank, thinking he was on a mission from God to level his town. [1] The coroner stated that Heemeyer used his .357-caliber handgun in the suicide. 2004. Local and state police, including a SWAT team, walked behind and beside the bulldozer occasionally firing, but the armored bulldozer was impervious to their shots. He died on 4 June 2004, in Granby, Grand, Colorado, United States, at the age of 52. He accused the city of costing him money. ", "Granby: 2004 bulldozer rampage subject of History Channel program", "Grudge spawns trail of destruction: Granby man kills himself after rampage in armor-plated bulldozer", "Armored dozer was bad to go: Reporters get peek inside Heemeyer's destructive machine", "Officials: Man who drove bulldozer is dead: Colorado rampage leaves man dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound", "Dozer digs its own grave: Used by angry resident to attack Granby, machine to be dismantled as scrap", "Newly released audiotapes detail reasons for Granby bulldozer rampage", "Man Who Bulldozed Granby Says He Got Idea From God", "7NEWS Looks Inside Granby Work Shed Where 'Dozer Was Outfitted", , ?, Discovery Channel Destroyed in Seconds video, "Site detailing Marvin Heemeyer's dispute with City Hall", Granby Damage, includes several pictures of the incident, Audio: Hear from Marvin Heemeyer himself in recorded 'manifesto', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marvin_Heemeyer&oldid=1147271808, Wikipedia pages semi-protected from banned users, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 29 March 2023, at 21:34. Born: 1952Birthplace: Castlewood, SDDied: 4-Jun-2004Location of death: Granby, COCause of death: Suicide, Gender: MaleRace or Ethnicity: WhiteSexual orientation: StraightOccupation: Criminal, Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: Killdozer pilot. Marv Heemeyer took all that money he made on the sale of his property and the welding skills he had honed over a lifetime and, surreptitiously over the course of more than a year, built himself a tank on a bulldozer body. Incredibly, no one else was injured in the rampage. However there were concerns about collateral damage from either military weapon. Heemeyerspent more than a year building his "killdozer" and planning his attack on the town of Granby, an act he felt was in accordance with God's will: "God blessed me in advance for the task that I am about to undertake. "Man Who Bulldozed Granby Says He Got Idea from God." Thank you for a complete nonbias The government should fear their people, the people should not fear their government. For the next eighteen months, he retrofitted the bulldozer with steel plates as well as homemade armor consisting of both concrete and steel sheets to make what he called his MK Tank though it is remembered today as Killdozer.. Like it or not. [2][5], One officer dropped a flash-bang grenade down the bulldozer's exhaust pipe, with no apparent effect. Grand County Emergency Management Director Jim Holahan stated that authorities were able to access and remove Heemeyer's body at 2 a.m. on June 5. lift fully exposed". He subsequently agreed to sell the land to Cody Docheff to build a concrete batch plant, Mountain Park Concrete, for $250,000. The cameras were protected by bulletproof Plexiglas. He bought the two acres for $42,000 but later agreed to sell it to the Docheff family, which wanted the property for a concrete batch plant, for $250,000. It's up to you, however, to decide if he should be hailed as hero. Governor Bill Owens allegedly considered authorizing the National Guard to use either an Apache attack helicopter equipped with a Hellfire missile or a two-man fire team equipped with a Javelin anti-tank missile to destroy the bulldozer. ", The wrecking spree went on for some 90 minutes, but miraculously despite the machine's meme-made name and Heemeyer's best if ultimately inept efforts no one was killed. Heemeyer never married. He was, by his own account (on recordings that he made in the weeks before he embarked on his tankcapade), a successful business owner. The last recording was made on May 22, thirteen days before the rampage. The truth is his actions, even if blurred into the category of some kind of righteous civil disobedience, were hardly heroic to a lot of people in Granby. They sent the pieces to dozens of scrap yards to stop admirers of Heemeyer from snatching a piece, as it soon became clear that the killdozer was going to be a subject of fascination. In addition to the frustration engendered by this dispute over access, Heemeyer was fined $2,500 by the Granby government for various violations, including "junk cars on the property and not being hooked up to the sewer line". Such a panic ensued that the governor considered authorizing the National Guard to attack with Apache helicopters and an anti-tank missile. "There was a woman talking on the local radio station as Marv was going through town she was sitting there saying, 'Marv is just a gentle giant, he's a teddy bear of a guy, he would only hurt people who hurt him ' It's just galling. Mountain Town News. Heemeyer had leased his business to a trash company and sold the property several months before the rampage. [5], Later, Heemeyer fired on two state patrol officers before they had fired at him. A destroyed truck was stuck inside the Mountain Parks Electric building after Marvin Heemeyers rampage. Heemeyer had been feuding with Granby officials, particularly over fines for violating city ordinances and a zoning dispute regarding a concrete factory constructed opposite to his muffler shop that had caused his business to fail. Boy I think theres something you should learn here:For as good as a man can be, also can he be as bad. Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post/Getty ImagesAuthorities examine the killdozer driven by Marvin Heemeyer through Granby, Colorado. Though authorities tried to destroy the vehicle multiple times, the killdozer proved resistant to small arms fire and resistant to explosives. Marvin Heemeyer built a tank. With Marvin Heemeyer, Patrick Brower, Glenn Trainor Jr., Casey Farrell. "It's really a mix between that and just a service town," with a couple of banks, a concrete plant, an electrical co-op and many businesses that cater to the tourism industry. Required fields are marked *. great post. The town of Granby still hasn't fully recovered from Heemeyer's vengeful and dangerous attack. He petitioned the city to have the property rezoned to prevent the construction of the plant, but he was rejected on multiple occasions. [3], John Bauldree, a friend of Heemeyer's, said that he was a likable person. 29 July 2009. After two hours and seven minutes, Heemeyer had bulldozed every business or home that had some connection to his case against the zoning committee. [14], As late as 2011, Governor Owens's staff still vehemently denied considering such a course of action. Heemeyer used an armor-plated Komatsu D355A bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings in. Shell, Hank. Everybody, all the time. Which, for more than one witness to this bizarre chapter in modern American history, is simply wrong. Investigators searched the garage where they believed that Heemeyer built the vehicle and found cement and armor steel. According to the "folk hero" version of Killdozer Day, Heemeyer only attacked buildings, not people, owned by those who had done him wrong, and made an effort not to harm any of the town's general population or property. That he was justified. Marvin John Heemeyer (born in South Dakota, October 28,1951), a successful welder, owned two muffler shops named "Mountain View Muffler" in Granby and nearby Boulder, Colorado. But Rocky Mountain National Park is less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) away. And Granby, with its roughly 1,500 working-class residents and town board made of up. On the other hand, some have pointed out that he initially agreed to sell his land and more crucially, that he could have easily killed innocent people during his attack if they hadnt gotten out of the way in time. Since then, members of the State Patrol revealed that to the contrary, the governor did consider authorizing an attack but ultimately decided against it due to the potential for collateral damage of a missile strike in the heart of Granby being significantly higher than what Heemeyer could have caused with his bulldozer. Its not that I dont feel safe, but its changed the way that you look at people, at stuff, he said. Marvin Heemeyer's homemade tank, "Killdozer." Patrick Brower's first thought when he saw the steel-armored bulldozer plowing into buildings outside his newspaper's office was that it was the. Others gathered in the streets to watch the odd spectacle. Christie Baker said that Heemeyer threatened her husband after he refused to pay for a faulty muffler repair. And as the saying goes the love of money is the root of all evil.3. "Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things. It all began with a man named Marvin John Heemeyer, a typical American blue-collar fellow. On June 4, 2004, frustrated over a failed zoning dispute, Heemeyer plowed his homemade armored bulldozer into the town hall, a former mayor's home and other buildings in small-town Granby, Colorado. Denver is less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the south. I dont know how to put it into words, really.. [4], In 1992, Heemeyer purchased 2 acres (0.8ha) of land from the Resolution Trust Corporation, the federal agency organized to handle the assets of failed savings and loan associations, for $42,000 to build a muffler shop. Lets examine the two sides. But the idea, somehow, that Granby was sophisticated enough to launch this campaign to go get Marv really defies my imagination.". He bought the two acres for $42,000 but. This material may not be reproduced without permission. It's interesting how Dick Thompson died shortly after PDO approval. The attack lasted for two hours and seven minutes, damaging 13 buildings, knocking out natural gas service to city hall and the concrete plant, damaging a truck, and destroying part of a utility service center. 6 6 tape 3 side b 06:41. During the rampage, law enforcement tried to stop Heemeyer and his dozer with volleys of gunfire. Tourism is a draw in the area, though Granby is hardly the center of it. This was a part-time project over a 1 year time period." He inflicted damage of around $7 million. 5 June 2004. The negotiations hadnt been easy, and hed been having trouble agreeing with the company on a suitable price. He was subsequently fined $2,500 for not having a septic tank on the property his muffler shop occupied. He was armed with several weapons, attempted to shoot at least one civilian, and fired several shots at propane tanks in an attempt to create an explosion. And the only person you have to blame is yourself. He hoped future generations of Granby residents would be wiser and and more loving because of his attack. Best Regards! The killdozer itself was cut into pieces and scrapped. Others offered different views. By all accounts, he was a wizard as a welder. Heemeyer had no intention of leaving the cabin once he entered; the hatch was permanently sealed. [1] National Guard units were placed on standby orders by Governor Bill Owens for possible anti-armor support. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things. One of my favorite youtubers psychologist Dr. Grande countered his statement by saying, Sometimes an unreasonable man must make up reasons to do unreasonable things.. He ultimately lost his appeal. No one, that is, except Heemeyer, who took his own life not long after his not-quite-lethal weapon bogged down in the middle of razing Gambles hardware store. "God blessed me in advance for the task that I am about to undertake. Definitely, what a great blog and revealing posts, I definitely will bookmark your site. Reportedly, the only thing that did not sell was a very large bulldozer. As law enforcement swarmed the Killdozer, a single gunshot rang out. Then there was all the God stuff.