You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
-Short Attention Span Theater-
I take the wekend off and look what happens
2004-06-07
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation declared the entire town of Granby a crime scene Saturday as authorities released more information about the events that unfolded a day earlier when an armored bulldozer began knocking down buildings in town. The Grand County Sheriff's office said that the D9 Caterpillar bulldozer was totally encased in armored plating with only small peepholes.
D9 Cat, the Official Bulldozer of Rantburg. Accept no subsitutes!
They said the driver, who was identified Friday as Marvin Heemeyer, 52, had installed TV cameras connected to three monitors so he could see where he was going. Investigators believe he spent several months planning and building the quarter- to half-inch concrete box that no police bullet could penetrate. "How he built this was amazing," said Grand County Commissioner James Newberry. "This was a very intelligent man. Once you saw the way his workshop was set up it's possible."
Everyone needs a hobby.
The bulldozer destroyed a concrete batch building, ran over a police vehicle and pushed over a wall where two state troopers were hiding, the Grand County Sheriff's office said. The troopers escaped. The bulldozer then proceeded eastward on Highway 40 to the Mountain Parks concrete building, where it caused heavy damage. The sheriff's department said the bulldozer next destroyed a building housing the town hall and library, then rammed the Liberty Savings Bank. It also destroyed the Sky-Hi News building, the Xcel Energy building, and a business owned by Thompson Excavating as well as the home, located on another street, of the owner of Thompson Excavating.
Seems like Marvin had "issues".
Numerous rounds were fired from a .50 browning semi-automatic rifle from inside the dozer at some propane tanks and electrical transformers at another business, the sheriff's office said.
Armored dozer with a .50, Marvin had serious issues.
Around 5 p.m., which was about three hours after the rampage began, the bulldozer got stuck inside the Gamble's department store. Soon afterwards, a shot was heard coming from inside the dozer. However it wasn't until 2 a.m. that deputies, police and SWAT officers using explosives, were able to penetrate the concrete and steel plates that were welded onto the bulldozer. The sheriff's office said the body of a man, believed to be Marvin Heemeyer, was found inside, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound. Investigators said they also found four weapons, a .50 caliber rifle, two military style assault rifles and a handgun. Crews had to use a crane to pry open the reinforced box and remove Heemeyer's body, which was recovered around 10:30 a.m. At a media briefing later in the day, authorities said they believed Heemeyer committed suicide about 20 seconds after he lost control of the hydraulics on the home-made tank. The Colorado State Patrol said it is looking for accomplices. They said the attack was well planned out and they don't think that Heemeyer could have done it all on his own.
Sure he could, all it took was time and a lot of rage. Glad no one but Marvin lost his life. Expect call for dozer gun control in 5..4..
More indepth coverage here.
Posted by:Steve

#16  Say what you want about his mental condition, but some part of his brain was working pretty well.

1/2 in steel plate with 2 inches of concrete then another half inch steel plate. and a spall liner.

The guy made composite armor for his D9!!!
Posted by: OldSpook   2004-06-07 9:03:09 PM  

#15  ROFL, Sgt. Mom!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2004-06-07 5:17:25 PM  

#14  The son of a bitch took out a LIBRARY?

Yeah, those overdue charges on that "Make Heavy Armor in the Privacy of Your Own Home" reference book are what finally tripped his trigger.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-07 4:03:42 PM  

#13  The son of a bitch took out a LIBRARY?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2004-06-07 3:52:29 PM  

#12  Damn, I ant to see that! Coverage on the major news channels were all over Reagans funeral.

This makes me wonder two things: 1, where the hell did he get a C9 bulldozer? Those things cost a lot of money. 2, what's his affiliation too ANSWER? It's very unlikely he just "randomly" decided to take down Corporation buildings with the IDF's choice pancake maker.
Posted by: Charles   2004-06-07 3:21:03 PM  

#11  they had clips on the local news here in Denver - he gave a tour of it some time back. In it he had a .50 cal rifle, several other rifles and a pistol. The news also showed him plowing down the town with the cops in an "OJ" slow persuit behind him. It was crazy.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2004-06-07 2:06:43 PM  

#10  #1 Logically how could they know for sure he killed himself?
Logically, when the deputy sheriff sat atop the killdozer (thanks Angie) and fired several clips of 45 cal or 9mm rounds through a hole in the roof that should have finished off ole Marv. Can you imagine how those things must have ricocheted throughout the inside of that cat?
Channel 4 out of Denver showed the deputy firing his weapon as part of their live coverage.
Posted by: GK   2004-06-07 1:51:15 PM  

#9  Armored bulldozers...why do they hate us?
Posted by: Dar   2004-06-07 1:46:50 PM  

#8  remember the mbt-60 tank in san diego about a decade or so ago......
Posted by: Dan   2004-06-07 1:44:07 PM  

#7  Sgt. Mom: LOL!

If old Marvin was once jilted by a girl named Rachel, I don't want to know about it.
Posted by: Mike   2004-06-07 1:25:10 PM  

#6  Well, this goes beyond just having "issues"; sounds like a lifetime subscription and a complete set of back copies, neatly bound and indexed...

Bwahahahahahahaha!!! Gotta remember that one for future use.

Looks like Colorado's having a hard time breaking their bulldozer habit.

---------------------------------

Alma still shaken by 1998 rampage that left ex-mayor dead.

By Brittany Anas

Denver Post Staff Writer

Friday's images of a man plowing through Granby businesses with a bulldozer were oddly similar to an incident that happened six years ago in a smaller Colorado mountain town.

Residents of Alma, in Park County southwest of Denver, are still rattled over what caused town native Thomas Leask to go on a deadly bulldozer rampage in February 1998.

Unlike the rampage in Granby, Leask claimed a victim. He shot a former mayor of Alma, Willie Morrison, to death and plowed into the town hall, fire station, post office and water-treatment facility, claiming he was following God's orders.
Posted by: Zenster   2004-06-07 1:22:52 PM  

#5  "A new market for TOW missiles! Exxxcellent!"
[/Monty Burns]
Posted by: PBMcL   2004-06-07 12:59:51 PM  

#4  Well, this goes beyond just having "issues"; sounds like a lifetime subscription and a complete set of back copies, neatly bound and indexed...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom   2004-06-07 12:32:34 PM  

#3  It's Killdozer!

An earlier report said that the weight of the bulldozer collapsed the floor of the hardware store, so that it fell into the basement. Ain't no way out from there.

The earlier report also made Ian Daugherty out to be a lot more sympathetic to Heemeyer than this story makes out.

A reverse 911 call? What the hell? What kind of emergencies do they get in Granby, anyway?
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2004-06-07 12:09:23 PM  

#2  Oh where is St. Pancake when we need her?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-06-07 11:54:58 AM  

#1  . . .events that unfolded a day earlier when an armored bulldozer began knocking down buildings in town.

That Marvin Heemeyer was kidnapped and forced by the bulldozer to ride inside while the BULLDOZER went on a rampage. Logically how could they know for sure he killed himself? Maybe the bulldozer killed him with the shotgun?

The anti-SUV crowd is now attacking bulldozers as a menace.

It should have said : Marvin Heemeyer, 52, upset over a zoning dispute, drove an armored plated bulldozer into several buildings and knocked them down in Granby, Colorado, before taking his own life.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-06-07 11:52:44 AM  

00:00