Marvin Heemeyer

Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was a skilled welder and owner of an automobile muffler-shop. On June 4, 2004, he destroyed a significant portion of Granby, Colorado, a small town in the U.S..

Heemeyer was born in South Dakota. He had disputes with various officials and individuals in Granby, particularly involving a zoning dispute which allowed a concrete factory to be constructed opposite his muffler shop, severely hindering him from operating his business.

Background information

Described by local people as very intelligent and an expert at welding, Heemeyer constructed an improvised 85-ton tank by welding two layers of steel armor sandwiched with concrete onto a 53-ton Komatsu D335A bulldozer (which was initially identified as a Caterpillar D9). His creation has been nicknamed "Killdozer".

He had purchased the bulldozer to construct an alternate route to his muffler shop. This was because the concrete plant blocked the original road to his shop. However, city officials refused to grant him permission.

Other factors were also hindering his business.

The concrete plant often left large quantities of dust on Marvin's property, and cut him off from the city sewer line. When Heemeyer requested to extend a sewer line across eight feet of the plant's property, he was denied. Not being connected to the city sewer line resulted in a $2500 fine that Marvin had to pay.

As a last measure, Marvin petitioned the city with his neighbors and friends, but to no avail.

Faced with the failure of his business in spite of his efforts, Heemeyer was forced to sell the property. He was given six months to leave, and it was during this time that he constructed the Killdozer.

Armored bulldozer

Heemeyer used an armor-plated Komatsu D335A bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings in Granby, Colorado

Killdozer has been used as a nickname for the armored bulldozer constructed by Marvin Heemeyer and used to demolish a significant portion of Granby, Colorado in the United States of America on June 4, 2004. There is no evidence that Heemeyer ever planned to name his creation. The name originally came a from 1944 short story by Theodore Sturgeon that was later made into a film.

Heemeyer's Killdozer was a Komatsu D335A bulldozer fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin, engine and parts of the tracks. This made the machine impervious to small arms fire and resistant to explosives; three external explosions and over 200 rounds of firearm ammunition fired at the Killdozer had no effect on it.

In places, the vehicle's armor was over one foot thick, [1] consisting of concrete sandwiched between sheets of steel to make ad-hoc composite armor. For visibility, Killdozer was fitted with three video cameras linked to monitors mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. Onboard fans were used to keep Heemeyer cool while driving and compressed air nozzles were fitted to blow dust away from the video cameras.[2] Food, water and life support were present in the almost airtight cabin. Heemeyer had no intention of ever leaving the cabin once he entered; the hatch was permanently sealed.

Killdozer was stopped by the failure of a radiator [3]. As soon as Killdozer came to a halt, Heemeyer committed suicide with a pistol he had brought into the cabin specifically for that purpose[4]. His body was subsequently removed by police with a crane. Despite the great damage to property (13 buildings were destroyed, most requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to be replaced), no one besides Heemeyer was injured; observers noted that Heemeyer appeared to go out of his way to avoid injury to bystanders.

On April 19, 2005, it was announced that Killdozer was being taken apart for scrap metal. Individual pieces of Killdozer would be dispersed to many separate scrap yards to prevent admirers of Heemeyer from taking souvenirs.

Corruption in Granby

During the years that Heemeyer fought for the solvency of his business, many people (including a candidate for governor) accused Granby officials of corruption [5]. Granby officials had rezoned the concrete factory owned by Mountain Park Concrete from commercial to heavy industrial, and allowed the plant to be built so it obstructed the view of Marvin's shop from the road. Some (including Don Heemeyer) believe that the actions violated rezoning regulations.[6]

In addition, the concrete plant refused to allow easement of eight feet of property for the extension of a sewer line that the city required. All of these factors smothered out Heemeyer's business and he was forced to sell the property to a garbage company. [7]

Heemeyer's actions were an attempt at a political statement -- in tapes later discovered in his home, he states "Because of your anger, because of your malice, because of your hate, you would not work with me. I am going to sacrifice my life, my miserable future that you gave me, to show you that what you did is wrong". [8]

However, after the event, rather than attempt any acknowledgement, the town of Granby has since gone to great lengths to dismiss any legitimacy towards his suffering and plight. Rather than using the occasion to consider or address the underlying issues of the act, the date of his death has become a "everyone be glad he's gone" celebration, with the town holding ice cream socials and "old fashioned baseball games", in an attempt to "turn it into something fun" [9].

Family and friends

Marvin was described as an obedient, honest, and loving man. However, prior to his rampage, his family life was also falling apart: his father had just died, and he was forced to auction his house. When about to get married, Heemeyer found out that his girlfriend had cheated on him.

The rampage

On June 4, 2004, he drove his Killdozer through the wall of his former business, and tore down the concrete plant that had destroyed it. He then proceeded to destroy many other buildings, including City Hall.

Some witnesses say Heemeyer made calculated movements with the bulldozer to avoid injuring anyone. In spite of Heemeyer's caution, over forty deputies and police officers were unable to stop him. A SWAT team was called in, but they too failed to halt the vehicle.

The local police force claim that Heemeyer had been actively shooting at the people who had wronged him, but the bullet holes could also have been made by the police themselves when their own bullets ricocheted off the armored bulldozer.

Heemeyer committed suicide after the radiator on his machine failed. He was 52 years old.

It took the police hours to penetrate the stalled vehicle (which was still impervious to gunfire) and remove Heemeyer's body.

Although a number of rumors reported that Heemeyer was terminally ill at the time of his rampage, an autopsy revealed that he was in good health other than an abnormally large heart[10].

The scene was reminiscent of a 1998 rampage in Alma, Colorado. 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.

External links

• Washington Post Article
• Marvin Heemeyer - The Truth!
• Denver Channel Article
• Article on incident
• Video of the incident — 20 seconds missing from the end.
• Complete video of the incident
• CBS4: Bulldozer Rampage Ends In Granby
• Granby Damage, includes several pictures of the incident