Marvin Heemeyer

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,
before killing himself.

Marvin Heemeyer

Marvin John Heemeyer

October 28, 1951
Born
Castlewood, South Dakota, U.S.
June 4, 2004 (aged 52)
Died
Granby, Colorado, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by gunshot
Occupation(s) Welder, automobile repair shop owner
Known for "Killdozer" rampage

Heemeyer had various grudges against Granby town officials,

neighbors of his muffler shop, the local press and various other
citizens of Granby. Over about eighteen months, Heemeyer had
secretly armored a Komatsu D355A bulldozer with layers of steel and
concrete.
:
 On Friday, June 4, 2004, Heemeyer used the bulldozer to demolish
the Granby town hall, the house of a former mayor, and several other
buildings. He killed himself after the bulldozer got stuck in a
hardware store he was destroying. No one was injured or killed,[1] in
part due to timely evacuation orders.[2]

Background
Marvin Heemeyer was born on October 28, 1951, on a dairy farm in
South Dakota. In 1974, he moved to Colorado because he was
stationed at Lowry Air Force Base.[3] In 1989,[3] he moved to Grand
Lake, Colorado, about 16 miles (26 km) away from Granby.[4][5] His
friends stated that he had no relatives in the Granby–Grand Lake
area.[6]

John Bauldree, a friend of Heemeyer's, said that he was a likable

person. Heemeyer's brother Ken stated that he "would bend over
backwards for anyone". However, while many people described
Heemeyer as an affable person, local resident Christie Baker claimed
that her husband was threatened by Heemeyer after refusing to pay
for a disputed muffler repair.[7] Baker said her husband later paid
Heemeyer $124.[7]

Gambling legalization
Heemeyer was strongly in favor of gambling legalization and
campaigned for the cause on several occasions, disseminating at
least two issues of a newspaper on the issue.[8][9]

In 1994, a measure was proposed that would have legalized

gambling in Grand Lake and Heemeyer was an avid campaigner for
it. A reporter said he nearly came to blows with Heemeyer over the
matter when discussing it.[10]
:
 Local press conflict
Heemeyer had several disagreements of opinion with the local press,
which may have led to his targeting of the Sky-Hi News building in
Granby.[9][additional citation(s) needed]

The local press ran stories that disagreed with Heemeyers view on
gambling legalization, stories that promoted the concrete batch plant
after it had taken the additional steps to reduce noise and dust
pollution, and stories that covered Heemeyers other conflicts and
failures.[9][additional citation(s) needed]

Zoning dispute
In 1992, Heemeyer purchased 2 acres (0.8 ha) of land from the
Resolution Trust Corporation, the federal agency organized to handle
the assets of failed savings and loan associations, for $42,000 to
build a muffler shop.[citation needed]

The land used to be a concrete plant and was desired by the Docheff
family, who Heemeyer outbid at the auction.[11]

The Docheff family wanted to expand their concrete business by

constructing an in-door concrete batch plant and were buying up the
land around their current lot, hoping to lease the remaining 23
parcels to small manufacturers, creating a small commercial-light
industrial park.[1] When bringing these plans to the town planning
commission, they informed them they needed a "Planned
Development Overlay District" permit to construct the plant.[1]

The town planning commission also suggested that the Docheff

family ask if they could purchase Heemeyer's plot to keep the plant
away from the hotels and businesses on route 40.[11]
:
 Cody Docheff later[when?] approached Heemeyer to ask if he could
buy the land to build an in-door concrete batch plant, as part of
Mountain Park Concrete across the road.[1] Heemeyer said he'd sell
it for $250,000 and Cody Docheff agreed to purchase it for that
price, however, according to Susan Docheff, Heemeyer changed his
mind and increased the price to $375,000, then to a deal worth
approximately $1 million. This negotiation happened before the
rezoning proposal had a public hearing at town hall.[5]

Despite not being able to obtain the land, the Docheff family pursued
their plans to expand, which included convincing the public it was a
good idea. During several town hall meetings, concerns were raised
about the dust, the noise and what it would look like.

The Docheffs addressed these concerns by promising to install

additional measures against dust and noise and presented
miniatures of the plant to concerned citizens.[1][11] On January 9th
2001, the preliminary plans for the plant were approved near
unanimously, only Heemeyer remained opposed.[1][12] This made the
final approval by Granby's zoning commission and trustees in April a
formality.[11]

Heemeyer tried to appeal the decision, claiming the construction

blocked access to his shop,[11] which it never did according to the
judge handling his case, a local journalist,[13] and people inspecting
aerial photography.[14]

He also complained to the Environmental Protection Agency, this

resulted in the Docheff family having a professional noise analysis
done.[1] Heemeyer also filed an array of lawsuits, all of which were
dismissed.[1]

According to Patrick Bower, during one of the lawsuits, Joe Docheff

made Heemeyer an offer: If he were to drop the frivolous lawsuit
:
 against them, they would give him an easement to connect a sewer
line to the new concrete plant for free and Docheff would construct it
for free. Heemeyer just hung up.[11]

Sewage dispute
The property Heemeyer acquired had an inadequate solution to
sewage, specifically, putting it in a buried concrete truck barrel, left
there by the previous owners.[11]

Soon after he acquired the property, Heemeyer contacted the sewer

district and asked if he could get a sewage line put into the property.
The sewer district agreed to annex the property into the sewer
district, but that the owner had to put in 100 feet of line and a lift
station at their own expense.[11] Paying for the line from the property
to the public main line is the standard in the United States.[14]

A lift station was required because sewage has to have an open-

channel flow. If it doesn't, the line will become pressurized, leading
to overflow. Since the sewage line would run up-hill, a lift station is
required to prevent the line becoming pressurized.[14]

According to a structural engineer, this would have cost Heemeyer

approximately $70,000 to install (excluding electricity costs and
maintenance costs).[14] This was twice the cost of purchasing the
property.

The sewer district told Heemeyer that putting in a septic tank was a
less expensive alternative. He rejected both options and said that the
government not paying for the sewage line hookup was "extortion by
government fiat".[11]

Despite these setbacks, he did not withdraw his annexation request

and subsequently became part of the sewer district.[11]
:
 Eventually, the buried concrete truck barrel filled up to the limit and
ran over. Heemeyer addressed this by pumping his sewage with a
gasoline pump into the irrigation ditch that ran behind his property.
[11]

When complaints of illegal sewage dumping grew louder, the sewer

district started enforcing the legal requirement to have a sewer
hookup or a septic tank, and fined Heemeyer $2,500 for it and other
city code violations at his business,[15] in July 2001, nine years after
he was required to have installed either.[12][11]

The bulldozer
Planning and construction

Knowing the zoning decision was final, he traveled to California,

bought a bulldozer in an auction and had it shipped to Granby.[1] He
kept it outside of his business with a For Sale sign on it and tried to
auction it, but few paid it any mind.[1][11] When the bulldozer failed to
sell, he saw it as a sign from God he had to start his mission.[11] He
sold his property for $425.000 (~10x the original purchase price) to
The Trash Co.[1] and took out a lease for half the building he
previously owned until he had "finished some work".[11][1]

He erected a wall to separate his space from the rest of the building
and changed the locks.[1] While no one in Granby saw him, he quietly
worked on the bulldozer and lived on the site.[1][16]

"It is interesting to observe that I was never caught", Heemeyer

wrote. "This was a part-time project over a 1½ year time period." 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 [910 kg] lift fully exposed ... somehow their
:
 vision was clouded".[15]

Specifications

This This section includes a list of references, related reading, or external

links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations.
Please help to improve this This section by introducing more precise
citations. (July 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Heemeyer used this armor-plated Komatsu D355A bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings in Granby,
Colorado.

The bulldozer was a modified Komatsu D355A,[3] which he referred

to as the "MK Tank" (or "Marv's Komatsu Tank"[11]) in audio
recordings, fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin,
engine, and parts of the tracks. In places, this armor was over 1 foot
(30 cm) thick, consisting of 5,000 psi (34 MPa) Quikrete concrete
mix sandwiched between sheets of ½-inch (1.3 cm) tool steel[1]
(acquired from an automotive dealer in Denver), to make ad-hoc
composite armor. This made the machine impervious to small arms
fire and resistant to explosives. Three external explosions and more
than 200 rounds of ammunition fired at the bulldozer had no effect
on it.[16]

For visibility, the bulldozer was fitted with several video cameras
linked to two monitors mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. The
cameras were protected on the outside by 3-inch (76 mm) shields of
clear bulletproof lexan.[16] Compressed-air nozzles were fitted to
blow dust away from the video cameras.[16]
:
 Onboard fans and an air conditioner were used to keep Heemeyer
cool while driving. He had made three gun-ports, fitted for a .50
caliber rifle, a .308 caliber semi-automatic rifle, and a .22 caliber
rifle, all fitted with a ½-inch (1.3 cm) steel plate.

At the time of the demolition it also contained three handguns and

enough food and water to last a week.[1]

Demolition and assault

This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's
quality standards, as aftermath is both inside and outside, the timeline of
events skips ahead and backwards.. You can help. The talk page may
contain suggestions. (July 2023)

On June 4, 2004, Heemeyer drove his armored bulldozer through the

concrete plant, the town hall, the Sky-Hi newspaper office, Gambles
General Store, Maple Street Builders, Mountain Parks Electric Co,
Liberty Savings Bank, Kopy Kat Graphics, the wall of his former
business, the home of a former mayor (in which the mayor's 82-
year-old widow then resided), and a hardware store owned by
another man Heemeyer named in a lawsuit, as well as a few others.[1]
Emergency dispatchers used the reverse 911 emergency system to
notify many residents and property owners of the rampage and to
evacuate.[17][2]

Heemeyer apparently had no intention of leaving the cabin once he

entered it.[16] "Once he tipped that lid shut, he knew he wasn't
getting out", Grand County Commissioner Duane Dailey said.

The attack lasted two hours and seven minutes, damaging thirteen
buildings.[3] It knocked out natural gas service to the town hall and
the concrete plant, damaged a truck, and destroyed part of a utility
service center.[18] Despite the great damage to property, no one
:
 besides Heemeyer (by a self-inflicted gunshot wound) was killed in
the event.[16] The damage was estimated at $7 million,[19][20] $2
million of which was to the concrete plant, which was underinsured,
resulting in a payout of $700,000.[1]

He also destroyed several trees that offended a different small

business owner,[citation needed] lamps, road signs and curbs.[1]

Timeline

Around 14:23 MST,[1] Heemeyer started his attack.

The first target was Mountain Park Concrete, owned by the Docheff
family. At the time of the attack, only Cody Docheff was at the
concrete plant, screening topsoil at the gravel pit, when he got a
notification over his radio that there was an explosion at the precast
shop.[1] A deputy from the sheriffs office tried to shoot the bulldozer,
to no effect. Cody Docheff engaged the bulldozer in a front-end
loader,[1] during which Heemeyer fired 13 .50 caliber rounds at Cody
Docheff.[1] There are photographs of this, taken by electrician Wayne
Miller, who happened to be across the street from the concrete plant
that day.[1]

After having finished with the concrete plant, Heemeyer turned onto
Agate avenue and headed south towards town at approximately
5mph.[1]

A local radio announcer went out onto the street and broadcast the
event live to his listeners.[1]

As a precaution, six patients from a medical center were evacuated.

[1]

Heemeyer had installed two rifles in firing ports on the inside of the
:
 bulldozer, and fired fifteen bullets from his rifle at power
transformers and propane tanks.[21]

"Had these tanks ruptured and exploded, anyone within one-half

mile (800 m) of the explosion could have been endangered", the
sheriff's department said. Twelve police officers and residents of a
senior citizens complex were within such a range.[5] Heemeyer fired
many bullets from his semi-automatic rifle at Cody Docheff when
Docheff tried to stop the assault on his concrete plant by using a
scraper, which was pushed aside by Heemeyer's bulldozer.[5]

Later, Heemeyer fired on two state patrol officers before they had
fired at him.[5] The sheriff's department also noted that eleven of the
thirteen buildings Heemeyer bulldozed were occupied until moments
before their destruction.[5] At the town library, which was in the
basement of the town hall,[1] a children's program was in progress
when the incident began.[4][5] The town hall had to be demolished
after the fact.[1]

One officer dropped a flash-bang grenade down the bulldozer's

exhaust pipe, with no apparent effect. Local and state patrol,
including a SWAT team, walked behind and beside the bulldozer,
occasionally firing, but the armored bulldozer was impervious to their
shots. Attempts to disable the bulldozer's cameras with gunfire failed
as the bullets were unable to penetrate the 3-inch (7.6 cm)
bulletproof plastic. At one point, undersheriff Glenn Trainor climbed
atop the bulldozer and rode it "like a bronc buster, trying to figure
out a way to get a bullet inside the dragon".[4] However, he was
forced to jump off to avoid being hit with debris.[4]

When he attacked the Liberty Savings Bank, it is understood that he

aimed directly at the corner office where a woman who was a part of
the zoning board worked.[1]
:
 At this point, local authorities and the Colorado State Patrol feared
they were running out of options in terms of firepower, as the
approximately 200[1] rounds fired by police had been ineffective up
to that point, and that Heemeyer would soon turn against civilians in
Granby. Governor Bill Owens allegedly considered authorizing the
National Guard to use either an Apache attack helicopter equipped
with a Hellfire missile or a two-man fire team equipped with a Javelin
anti-tank missile to destroy the bulldozer. As late as 2011, Governor
Owens's staff vehemently denied considering such a course of
action. Members of the State Patrol, however, claim that to the
contrary, the governor did consider authorizing an attack, but
ultimately decided against it due to the potential collateral damage of
a missile strike in the heart of Granby being significantly higher than
what Heemeyer could have caused with his bulldozer.[22] Ultimately,
it was deemed unnecessary when Heemeyer became trapped in the
basement of a Gambles hardware store, which was owned by one of
the town board members.[1][22]

Various problems arose as Heemeyer destroyed the Gambles

hardware store. The radiator of the bulldozer had been damaged,
and the engine was leaking various fluids. The bulldozer's engine
failed, and Heemeyer dropped a tread into the store's basement and
could not get out. About a minute later, at 16:30 MST,[1] one of the
SWAT team members, who had swarmed around the machine,
reported hearing a single gunshot from inside the cab. It was later
determined that Heemeyer had shot himself in the head with a .357-
caliber handgun.[16][23]

Police first used explosives in an attempt to remove the steel plates

and for a fear of booby-traps, but after the third explosion failed,
they cut through them with an oxyacetylene cutting torch.[1] After
getting inside, they found the access hatch and enough food and
water to last a week.[1][11] Grand County Emergency Management
:
 Director Jim Holahan stated that authorities were able to access and
remove Heemeyer's body at 2 a.m. the next day, on June 5.[24]

Aftermath

Many town records and archives were destroyed along with the town
hall.[1]

Defenders of Heemeyer said that he made a point of not hurting

anybody during his bulldozer rampage.[16] Ian Daugherty, a bakery
owner, said Heemeyer "went out of his way" not to harm anyone.
[citation needed] Cody Docheff stated that "if Heemeyer truly didn’t

want to hurt anybody, he would have plundered the center of town

on the weekend, when most businesses would have been empty".[1]
The sheriff's department said that the fact that no one was injured
was not due to good intent as much as to good luck.

On April 19, 2005, the town announced plans to scrap Heemeyer's

bulldozer. The plan involved dispersing individual pieces to many
separate scrap yards to prevent souvenir-taking.[25]

Although no one other than Heemeyer was killed in the incident, the
modified bulldozer has occasionally been referred to as the
"Killdozer". It is unclear whether this is in allusion to the 1944 short
story "Killdozer!" or its 1974 film adaptation, or if this is independent
coinage.

In recent years, Heemeyer gained a small internet following for his

bulldozer attack, comparable to the Unabomber's following in the
same or similar communities, with people politicizing and justifying
his actions as reasonable and proportional.[26][27] An example of
such a group is the Boogaloo boys.[28]
:
 Motivation
A search of Heemeyers house in Grand Lake, Colorado turned up the
plans for the bulldozer on his PC.[1]

In addition to writings that he left on the wall of his shed, Heemeyer

recorded three audio tapes explaining his motivation for the attack.
The tapes contained two separate recordings on each side for a total
of six recordings. He mailed these to his brother in South Dakota
shortly before stepping into his bulldozer.[29]

Heemeyer's brother turned the tapes over to the Federal Bureau of

Investigation (FBI), who in turn sent them to the Grand County
Sheriff's Department. The tapes are about 2.5 hours in length.[29]
The first recording was made on April 13, 2004. The last recording
was made on May 22, thirteen days before the rampage.

"God built me for this job", Heemeyer said in the first recording. 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. "I think
God will bless me to get the machine done, to drive it, to do the stuff
that I have to do", he said. "God blessed me in advance for the task
that I am about to undertake. It is my duty. God has asked me to do
this. It's a cross that I am going to carry and I'm carrying it in God's
name."[30]

Investigators later found Heemeyer's handwritten list of targets of

107 people who he thought had wronged him. The Docheff family
was at the top of the list (written as "Douche-eff"[11]). The list also
included the local catholic church (which he did not damage),
various buildings, companies, judges, politicians, newspaper editors
and anyone who sided against him in past disputes.[1][11][31]

Notes found by investigators after the incident indicated that the

:
 primary motivation for the bulldozer rampage was his plan to stop
the concrete plant from being built near his shop. These notes
indicated that he held grudges over the zoning approval. "I was
always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable", he
wrote. "Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
[15]

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Marvin_Heemeyer&oldid=1166687357"
: