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A statement from Grand County Undersheriff Glen Trainor early Saturday said the driver was found around 2 am The statement did not give a cause. The driver was identified by the town manager as muffler shop owner Marvin Heemeyer. Heemeyer, who lost two bitter battles with town officials, plowed the armor-plated bulldozer into the town hall, a former mayor's home and at least five other buildings Friday before the machine ground to a halt in the wreckage of a warehouse. City officials said he was angry over a zoning dispute and fines from city code violations at his business. Authorities detonated three explosions and fired at least 200 rounds against the heavy steel plates welded to the bulldozer. Trainor said the dozer's armor plates consisted of two sheets of half-inch steel with a layer of concrete between them. Residents of this mountain tourist town of 2,200 described a bizarre scene as the bulldozer slowly crashed through buildings, trees and lampposts, with dozens of officers walking ahead or behind it, firing into the machine and shouting at townspeople to flee. "It looked like a futuristic tank," said Rod Moore, who watched the dozer rumble past within 15 feet of his auto garage and towing company. One officer, later identified as Trainor, was perched on top, firing shot after shot into the top and once dropping an explosive down the exhaust pipe. He threw what looked like a flash-bang down the exhaust. A flash-bang produces a blinding flash and earsplitting boom designed to stun a suspect. "Gunfire was just ringing out everywhere," said Sandra Tucker, who saw the bulldozer begin the rampage from her office on Main Street. "It sounded to me like an automatic rifle, firing about every second." At least 40 deputies, Colorado State Patrol officers, federal park and forest rangers and a SWAT team from nearby Jefferson County were at the scene. Town manager Tom Hale said Heemeyer was angry after losing a zoning dispute that allowed a cement plant to be built near his muffler shop. Heemeyer also was fined $2,500 in a separate case for not having a septic tank and for other city code violations at his business, Hale said. When he paid the fine, he enclosed a note with his check saying "Cowards," Hale said. "We felt he was venting his frustration that he didn't get his way," Hale said of the note. "We didn't think he was going to do something like this." Trainor said he believes Heemeyer spent months armoring the bulldozer, and investigators were looking into whether he had help. Hale said owners of all the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes. The buildings included the cement plant, a utility company, a bank, a newspaper office, a hardware store and warehouse, the home of former Mayor LR "Dick" Thompson and the municipal building, which also housed a library. Crumpled patrol cars and service trucks lay in the dozer's path. A pickup was folded nearly in half and had been rammed through the wall of a building. Bill Owens traveled Friday night to Granby, about 50 miles west of Denver and 10 miles south of Rocky Mountain National Park. State aid will be available to help rebuild local government buildings, and state officials will help businesses seek federal help, said Mike Beasley, director of the state Department of Local Affairs. William Hertel, owner of High Altitude Audio, said the bulldozer drove by his business at mid-afternoon, crushing aspen trees and light poles after the rampage began around 3 pm "I was up on the roof when he came by. I got down and got my wife and kids out of the back of the building," Hertel said. The scene was reminiscent of a 1998 rampage in Alma, another town in the Colorado Rockies. 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.
last To: wita in a town of 2200 people apparently no one knew this gentleman was not well served and was planning a deep ender, and if well served, what could have been done to help him deal with his losses Maybe a lot of those 2200 folks knew he was going to do it, and were pulling for him in their hearts. A lot of people really have no idea how Americans are pi$$ed off at their gov't, at all levels. I expect these kind of events to increase in the future.
View Replies To: solo gringo This mayor and his gang of power hunger idiots should step back and take a long look at themselves and see what they have caused. We usually leave the whiney excuse mills to the liberals who love to champion and excuse bad behaviors. If you are looking for a real culprit, then look no further than the traumatic toilet training the poor man had to endure. It's no wonder he ended up as an infantile and tyrannical Me-ocrat, ruling in his own two-hour-long Me-ocracy.
View Replies To: solo gringo This mayor and his gang of power hunger idiots should step back and take a long look at themselves and see what they have caused. So the mayor and "his gang of power hunger idiots" are responsible for someone else's actions, but the actual perpetrator is not? I was under the impression that a person was responsible for his own actions. You're absolving him of any responsibility and placing the blame on someone else.
View Replies To: dennisw Here the US Army and Marines are looking for well armoured vehicles -- and this fellow -- obviously inspired and innovative in such matters -- goes and blows all that genius. Says something about military procurement -- it should be opened up considerably so off-track geniuses like Hevemeyer can find a positive outlet.
View Replies To: No Blue States (good to see you again by the way) I'm cultivating that air of mystery.... My time on the net is just limited these days, and given the time difference between Australia and the States, well, the phrase "lone FReeper on the east coast" comes to mind...
At 11:00 local time last night they still hadn't been able to penetrate the dozer. It took at least three tries with explosives to blow it open. This guy, described as a pretty good guy by those who knew him, apparently just went over the edge.
View Replies To: BenLurkin Trainor said the dozer's armor plates consisted of two sheets of half-inch steel with a layer of concrete between them. The concrete will crumble and absorb under an artillery blow!
choose to vent your frustration in the way Marvin chose, more than likely out of complete and utter frustration at not being heard, and your end will be assured, either by your hand or the hand of those who stand by the bureaucrats.
View Replies To: leadpenny I'm concerned about the unregistered and undocumented sale of bulldozer parts. And further more, didn't anybody notice this guy building this "futuristic tank"? I mean, even if he built it in a shuttered barn you'd think, in a town of 3K people, that someone would notice all the cement and steel this-and-that that was being delivered.
View Replies To: Balding_Eagle If I were a surviving family member, in memory of this man, I'd already be looking for a lawyer. They'd be stampeding to you door and/or ringing the phone off the hook.
View Replies To: bvw Here the US Army and Marines are looking for well armoured vehicles Of course his cement lined dozer would need it's own C5 Galaxy to get it to the field....
View Replies To: yankeedame There's nothing in this story that conclusively indicates that the cops killed him. He might well have shot himself after the bulldozer got stuck.
com Special to TLE Originally released 9/21/97 Go where the land meets the water, anywhere in New England, and you will begin to understand how deeply the region of my birth lies in bondage to the Cult of the Omnipotent State. Town and state governments throughout New England traditionally buy and dump tons of sea sand -- or whatever will pass for it -- along the shorelines of their municipal beaches and parks. It doesn't matter whether the shoreline of the lake, river or ocean cove in question was originally a reeded marshland, naturally filtering away pollutants while offering pristine habitat to waterfowl and a hundred other creatures --...
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