Welder Takes On The Law
In 2004, Marvin Heemeyer was a welding shop owner in Granby, Colorado, who had sold a portion of his land adjoining his workplace to a concrete manufacturing company. However, when the company applied to rezone the land and began constructing their new plant, it blocked access to Marvin’s workplace. Despite numerous petitions to halt the rezoning, none succeeded, resulting in fines for various civil violations. Frustrated and feeling he had exhausted all legal avenues, Marvin decided to take matters into his own hands.
Determined to address his grievances, Marvin embarked on a mission. He meticulously crafted a “Killdozer,” a customized bulldozer fortified with steel plate armor and equipped with makeshift gun ports housing various rifles. On June 4, 2004, he drove his armored machine into town, demolishing the concrete plant next to his shop and heading toward City Hall. He wreaked havoc on a newspaper office, the former mayor’s residence, a hardware store, and other properties along his destructive path. Marvin’s rampage came to an end when the bulldozer’s treads got stuck, forcing him to resort to a self-inflicted gunshot. Subsequent investigations revealed a list in the cab containing the names of everyone involved in rezoning his property, as he had intended to exact revenge on them all. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, but the event left a bitter memory in the town’s history.
