Homemade armored bulldozer rampage in Colorado

[Jon]

In 2004, Marvin Heemeyer protested small-town government corruption by using a homemade armored bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings.

The Dozer:


Marvin John Heemeyer was a welder and the owner of a muffler repair shop in Granby, Colorado, population 1,864. Heemeyer became involved in a zoning dispute with town officials, centered around the construction of a concrete factory opposite his muffler shop.

Granby town officials contend that Heemeyer was a troublemaker. However, some residents believe that officials in the Granby government accepted bribes and payoffs from the concrete company, to allow the company to build and operate their plant. Heemeyer was fined thousands of dollars for a variety of violations, among them having junk cars on his property. Heemeyer tried various legal means, including public petition, to resolve these issues, but was repeatedly stymied by the local government.

Heemeyer then purchased a Komatsu D355 bulldozer, and modified it over the course of a year and a half. He fitted it with homemade composite armor he had made from concrete sandwiched between sheets of tool steel. He installed video cameras on the exterior, connected to monitors inside the bulldozer's cab. The cameras were guarded by bullet-resistant plastic, and accompanied by compressed air nozzles to clean dust from the camera lenses.



On June 4, 2004, Heemeyer entered the modified bulldozer, and used a homemade crane to lower the final piece of armor plating over the cab. Then, over the course of 2 hours and 7 minutes, Heemeyer methodically destroyed 13 buildings in Granby, including City Hall, the police department, the mayor's house, the cement plant, a bank, and the offices of a local newspaper that had sided against him. All in all, Heemeyer did about $7 million in damage.

During the rampage, Heemeyer proceeded slowly in his modified dozer, surrounded by dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies who often fired upon the vehicle. But Heemeyer had done a good job modifying the dozer, and small arms fire, even repeated numerous times at close range, was unable to stop it. Heemeyer had outfitted the bulldozer with multiple gun ports, fitted for a .50 caliber sniper rifle, a .308 semi-automatic, and a .22 rifle. However, he did not harm any of the numerous law enforcement officers walking alongside the vehicle, or anyone else. It is rumored that the governor of Colorado considered authorizing the use of an Apache attack helicopter or an anti-tank missile.

City Hall:


Newspaper Offices:


Former Mayor's House:



Heemeyer's armored bulldozer eventually became stuck in the basement of a building he had demolished. Unable to free the dozer, he killed himself with a .357 handgun.

Of course it is difficult to condone the actions of a man who bulldozes a town. Heemeyer was irrational and unreasonable. He could've taken his fight to a higher level of government, documented his position on the internet, or simply let it go. At the same time, it is impossible not to admire a man who armors a bulldozer and knocks down 13 buildings without hurting a soul, all in a battle against government corruption.

Heemeyer and his homemade armored bulldozer are legendary in Colorado. The dozer was eventually scrapped, with pieces dispersed to many different scrap yards to prevent Heemeyer's admirers from taking souvenirs.

In a manifesto that he left behind, Heemeyer reminded us that: "Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."