Marvin Heemeyer Born: 1952 Birthplace: Castlewood, SD Died: 4-Jun - 2004 Location of death: Granby, CO Cause of death: Suicide Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Criminal Nationality: United States Executive summary: Killdozer pilot Military service: USAF (1969) Volume 90%. But as any small-business owner in any small town anywhere in America will tell you, the red tape can be a bear. 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. [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. Now, however, it would serve a new purpose as his weapon of destruction: the killdozer. ", 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. To prevent Granby from becoming a Mecca to these groups, the Killdozer was cut up and its parts scattered at several different scrap yards. The notes indicated Heemeyer held grudges over the zoning approval. All of this was well before the rezoning proposal hit town hall. 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. Such a panic ensued that the governor considered authorizing the National Guard to attack with Apache helicopters and an anti-tank missile. The tapes are about 2.5 hours in length. And Granby had its share of red tape. 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. He was surprised that several men, who had visited the shed late the previous year, had not noticed the modified bulldozer "especially with the 2,000-pound [910kg] lift fully exposed somehow their vision was clouded".[8]. And Granby, with its roughly 1,500 working-class residents and town board made of up. [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. A patriot, even, in some people's eyes. It is my duty. 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. The sheriff's department argues that the fact that no one was injured was not due to good intent as much as it must have been due to luck. 1951. "Had these tanks ruptured and exploded, anyone within one-half mile of the explosion could have been endangered", the sheriff's department said; within such a range were 12 police officers and residents of a senior citizens complex. Heemeyer had purchased the Komatsu D335A bulldozer with the intention of clearing a path to connect his store to the main road, but city council members rejected his proposal. Heemeyer subsequently leased a shed on his former property back from the new owner, drove his bulldozer through the door and parked it inside. Over the cameras he installed three inch thick bulletproof Lexan complete with air jets to blow away any debris that might obstruct his view. Heemeyer complained to the town council about neighboring businesses, lashed out at other land and business owners, and generally railed at anyone who he felt was trying to take advantage of him. "[7], Heemeyer took about a year and a half to prepare for his rampage. Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 June 4, 2004) was an American automobile muffler repair shop owner who demolished numerous buildings with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, on June 4, 2004. "Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things. 'It's interesting how everyone lost': Inside Heemeyer's 'manifesto' He also said it was God's plan that he not be married or have a family so that he could be in a position to carry out such an attack. The last recording was made 13 days before the rampage. Marvin Heemeyer is a hero. The tapes were released by the Grand County Sheriff's Office on August 31, 2004. They begin with various ramblings about how he came to Granby and his past work experiences at muffler shops he formerly owned. [12], Defenders of Heemeyer contended that he made a point of not hurting anybody during his bulldozer rampage. The most famous phrase attributed to Heemeyer is, I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. He accused the city of costing him money. Others could easily have died, though. As for Marvin Heemeyers killdozer itself, state officials decided to take it apart and sell it for scrap. He 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 front-end loader. He mailed these to his brother in South Dakota shortly before stepping into his bulldozer.[18]. It is my duty. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. Marvin Heemeyer and His Killdozer Rampage Is a Story - MotorBiscuit 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. [1] The coroner stated that Heemeyer used his .357-caliber handgun in the suicide. In places, the vehicle's armor was over one foot thick, consisting of concrete sandwiched between sheets of steel to make ad-hoc composite armor. Unreasonable Things: The Story of Marvin Heemeyer - Blogger 6 June 2014. With the end clearly in sight, Heemeyer killed himself with a gunshot to the head in his cockpit, determined to avoid capture and leave the world on his own terms. Marvin Heemeyer - NNDB The Denver Channel. A ton of videos of that day, too, are available online, many of them containing archival news footage of the rampage. Related. Not only did Heemeyer level buildings and crush cars, but he fired indiscriminately at police thankfully missing. Killdozer Day: The Story of Marvin Heemeyer | Snopes.com
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