Gunman goes on bulldozer rampage

[Jobber of the Week 0]

(CNN) -- A man reportedly angry about a zoning decision affecting his business drove a large bulldozer fortified with steel plates through the small town of Granby, Colorado, Friday afternoon, demolishing parts of the town center and exchanging gunfire with authorities.

 

Authorities said all of the buildings that were damaged or destroyed appeared to be intentionally targeted as a result of the zoning dispute.

 

There have been no immediate reports of injuries.

 

About 90 minutes after the rampage began, the armored bulldozer became stuck in one of the crumbling buildings that the man tried to plow through. Steam hissed from its punctured radiator.

 

Law enforcement officers surrounded the modified vehicle, which was larger than a tank, Grand County Manager Lurline Curran told CNN in a phone interview.

 

All was quiet inside the cab, which had been enclosed with steel plates, Curran said.

 

Jim Holahan, Grand County Emergency Management director, said efforts were being made to blow a hole in the plates.

 

Authorities don't want to cut into the vehicle, he said, for fear that it's booby-trapped.

 

"That's something we don't want to find out the hard way," he told reporters at a news conference in Granby.

 

There's been no contact with the driver, Holahan said.

 

"They don't know if he's still alive or what's going on," said Curran.

 

At the height of the rampage, the bulldozer demolished or heavily damaged a concrete batch plant, the town hall, a bank, a library and the local newspaper offices. The property of the former mayor, who held office at the time of the zoning dispute, also was damaged.

 

"Every indication is that these were all targeted hits," said Granby Town Manager Tom Hale. "They were all properties that people who worked there were involved in the zoning decision."

 

Gov. Bill Owens went to Granby and saw some of the damage from the air.

 

"It looked as if a tornado touched down and hopscotched across Granby," he told reporters.

 

Curran said the bulldozer was so big that it was "hard to stop."

 

"He fortified it with some armored plates, so it was very difficult for our sheriff's department to do anything to stop him. He also had a weapon so we had to be very cautious," she said. "We moved in one of our scrapers from out of the landfill trying to block his way."

 

She said authorities believe they know the identity of the man carrying out the attack and that it stems from a zoning dispute dating back over a year ago.

 

Neil Dewet, manager of the Silver Spur Saloon and Steakhouse about a half block from town hall, said he knows the man in the bulldozer, and said the man welded himself inside the cab.

 

"He was not coming out of there," Dewet told CNN in a phone interview, adding that he watched as the vehicle demolished town hall, about 150 feet from where he stood.

 

Dewet said the man owned the bulldozer, and had modified it inside a building he owned near the concrete batch plant.

 

The man, who Dewet said was in his 50s, was angry at a zoning decision that allowed the concrete plant to expand around his building instead of buying his land.

 

Tim Neal, another Granby resident, told CNN he watched the bulldozer target specific buildings and homes -- homes of city board members who were involved in the zoning decision.

 

"Everybody knew he would go after everybody on the town board," Neal said in a phone interview.

 

Mark Stutz of Xcel Energy said his company's building in Granby was also heavily damaged when the bulldozer crashed through the premises.

 

Damage to town hall and the concrete batch plant broke gas lines to those buildings, Stutz told CNN-affiliate KUSA, but Xcel employees can't get back into their building to shut off those lines.

 

Police and other law enforcement officers evacuated many residents and shut down roads in the town of about 1,500 residents, Curran said.

 

Authorities used a reverse 911 system to warn residents in the bulldozer's path to get out, Grand County Commissioner Dwayne Dailey told reporters.

 

Granby is about 70 miles northwest of Denver, near Rocky Mountain National Park.

 

 

My. Fucking. Hero.

[The Ill One 0]

...Man somebody needs some stress balls, a massage, and some road head or something 'cause a rampage after a zoning dispute? I dunno, I can see where it'd be a problem catching the guy, but how fast can bulldozers go? The visual is like seeing a fleet of cops chasing after a guy in a golf cart on the highway but they still keep their distance. Or a unicycle, 'cause those are funny.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

It's like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. Only better.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Industrial equipment is not to be trifled with. It doesn't matter that the top speed isn't much more than 25-30 when the thing weighs in excess of ten tons and has a large moving blade on the front.

 

That's what they get for fucking with the blue collar man.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Holy shit! That's fucking nuts. I wonder if footage was captured of the demolition?

 

Edit: According to CNN, the man committed suicide, not surprising to read.

[Ted the Poster 0]

I also demand video footage.

 

Well, if nobody was injured, what's the most he could be charged with? Resisting arrest, destruction of private property, and asault with a deadly weapon are all I can think of, but I'm sure there's more. I can understand what the guy did, and even respect him and cheer for him. It just makes me wonder why the man would kill himself rather than go to jail for 5-10 years. The only reason I can think of is his age, or that he wanted his property bought because he was going bankrupt or something and desperately needed the money. Oh well, at least he went out with a bang, so to speak.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Update...

 

GRANBY, Colo. (AP) - A muffler shop owner who plowed a makeshift armored bulldozer into several buildings after a dispute with city officials was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a SWAT team cut their way into the machine with a blowtorch early Saturday, authorities said.

 

Grand County Emergency Management Director Jim Holahan confirmed that the driver, identified by the town manager as Marvin Heemeyer, appeared to have shot himself.

 

Heemeyer plowed the armor-plated bulldozer into the town hall, a former mayor's home and at least five other buildings Friday before the machine ground to a halt in the wreckage of a warehouse.

 

City officials said he was angry over a zoning dispute and fines from city code violations at his business.

 

Authorities detonated three explosions and fired at least 200 rounds against the heavy steel plates welded to the bulldozer, which looked like an upside down Dumpster. After the third explosion failed, officials cut their way in with a blowtorch, Holahan said.

 

A statement from Grand County Undersheriff Glen Trainor said the driver was found around 2 a.m.

 

Holahan said Heemeyer was armed with a .50-caliber weapon but appeared to be deliberately avoiding injuring anyone during the rampage, which began Friday at about 3 p.m. No other injuries were reported.

 

Trainor said the dozer's armor plates consisted of two sheets of half-inch steel with a layer of concrete between them.

 

Grand County Commissioner Duane Daley said Heemeyer apparently used a video camera and two monitors found inside to guide the dozer. Two guns were mounted in front and aimed through portals. Other portals were cut in the back.

 

It was unclear how many guns were found with Heemeyer. Authorities speculated Heemeyer he 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," Daly said.

 

Investigators searched the garage where they believe Heemeyer built the vehicle and found cement, armor and steel.

 

Residents of this mountain tourist town of 2,200 described a bizarre scene as the bulldozer slowly crashed through buildings, trees and lampposts, with dozens of officers walking ahead or behind it, firing into the machine and shouting at townspeople to flee.

 

"It looked like a futuristic tank," said Rod Moore, who watched the dozer rumble past within 15 feet of his auto garage and towing company.

 

One officer, later identified as Trainor, was perched on top, firing shot after shot into the top and once dropping an explosive down the exhaust pipe.

 

"He just kept shooting," Moore said. "The dozer was still going. He threw what looked like a flash-bang down the exhaust. It didn't do a thing."

 

A flash-bang produces a blinding flash and earsplitting boom designed to stun a suspect.

 

"Gunfire was just ringing out everywhere," said Sandra Tucker, who saw the bulldozer begin the rampage from her office on Main Street. "It sounded to me like an automatic rifle, firing about every second."

 

At least 40 deputies, Colorado State Patrol officers, federal park and forest rangers and a SWAT team from nearby Jefferson County were at the scene.

 

Town manager Tom Hale said Heemeyer was angry after losing a zoning dispute that allowed a cement plant to be built near his muffler shop. Heemeyer also was fined $2,500 in a separate case for not having a septic tank and for other city code violations at his business, Hale said.

 

When he paid the fine, he enclosed a note with his check saying "Cowards," Hale said.

 

"We felt he was venting his frustration that he didn't get his way," Hale said of the note. "We didn't think he was going to do something like this."

 

Trainor said he believes Heemeyer spent months armoring the bulldozer, and investigators were looking into whether he had help.

 

Hale said owners of all the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes.

 

The buildings included the cement plant, a utility company, a bank, a newspaper office, a hardware store and warehouse, the home of former Mayor L.R. "Dick" Thompson and the municipal building, which also housed a library.

 

Crumpled patrol cars and service trucks lay in the dozer's path. A pickup was folded nearly in half and had been rammed through the wall of a building.

 

Gov. Bill Owens traveled Friday night to Granby, about 50 miles west of Denver and 10 miles south of Rocky Mountain National Park.

 

State aid will be available to help rebuild local government buildings, and state officials will help businesses seek federal help, said Mike Beasley, director of the state Department of Local Affairs.

 

William Hertel, owner of High Altitude Audio, said the bulldozer drove by his business at mid-afternoon, crushing aspen trees and light poles after the rampage began around 3 p.m.

 

"I was up on the roof when he came by. I got down and got my wife and kids out of the back of the building," Hertel said. He said he had heard numerous shots.

 

The scene was reminiscent of a 1998 rampage in Alma, another town in the Colorado Rockies. Authorities said Tom Leask shot a man to death, then used a town-owned front-end loader to heavily damage the town's post office, fire department, water department and town hall.

[evilhomer 0]

It just goes to show that there's only so far they can push. Tax us to poverty. Ignore our interests for the sake of the almighty dollar. Somethings got to give.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Update...

Goddamnit. Who will be my hero now that my hero is gone?

 

 

Don't tell me the guy from "Grand Theft Auto" isn't real again.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Its ashame he got stuck. They wouldn't have been able to do anything with it moving.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Someone must finish what the Killdozer has started!

 

Fight, Killdozer Man, fight! Fight for everlasting peace!

 

With this bulldozer!

 

 

God bless Something Awful. If you can find the thread on this incident there, read the 35 pages of it for a great time.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Its ashame he got stuck. They wouldn't have been able to do anything with it moving.

They would of shot him with a rubber bullet or a dinosaur tranq.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Rubber Bullets can pierce through an inch of steel, of course.

[Guest JacK]

Of course. You didn't know? Lucky he told you, otherwise your rampage might have been cut short.

 

 

That guy is mega cool. I'd love to do that. I'll show you Wollongong/Sydney . . . I'll show you all!!!

 

And there was footage of that on the news over here in Australia, so I figure there must be some somewhere . . . I tell ya it was super-mega-cool!

 

I'm sure he would've need to piss sometime though . . . or stop for gas . . . and then bang they kick him in the nuts Cartman-style yelling about respect and authoritai.

Edited June 6, 2004 by JacK

[Art Sandusky 0]

Who has DINOSAUR tranquilizers?

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

What chu need man?

[nl5xsk1 0]

Don't tell me the guy from "Grand Theft Auto" isn't real again.

I was thinking more Twisted Metal that GTA ... either way, this guy went out playing a real life video game.