The man was known as Kill Dozer when he used a bulldozer to get revenge on an entire town for dismissing his zoning petition.
Marvin John Heemeyer, 52, was an automobile muffler repair shop owner who demolished numerous buildings with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, on June 4, 2004.
Heemeyer made his living by repairing mufflers at a small welding shop he built on his owned land. In 2001, he became angry when he heard that the city had zoned the land next to his own to build a large concrete plant. He uses it to access his shop, so he attempted to have the property rezoned to prevent the construction, but received multiple rejections.
He continued to make the petition and the rejections continued, but in 2003, he was so frustrated by all of the rejections that he decided to take his anger out on the town with the help of a bulldozer. He purchased a bulldozer a few years earlier so he can use it to create an alternative route between his home and his shop.
And instead of using it as it was, he decided to make the machinery unstoppable by covering it in armored plates.
He also installed two monitors in the makeshift cockpit so he can observe his movements and added three guns to the bulldozer before sealing himself in the driver’s seat, making it impossible for him to get out.
On June 4, 2004, he began his rampage by driving the Killdozer straight through the wall of his shop and heading straight for the concrete plant. After destroying it, he turned his attention to those buildings in the town.
He wrecked the Town Hall, a newspaper office, a DIY shop, and various homes, destroying a total of 13 buildings in just 2 hours and 7 minutes creating total damage of $7 million in the property.
Later on, during their investigation, the authorities reportedly realized that Heemeyer had purposefully targeted those buildings related to his conflict with the zoning committee.
The rampage caused such panic that the National Guards were put in place to attack, however, they did not go ahead as Heemeyer accidentally wedged the bulldozer in the basement of a hardware store.
He decided to took his own life after he accidentally wedge his massive Killdozer, but remarkably no other lives were lost during the said event. Authorities searched his home and later on found a number of notes and tapes outlining his motivations, and the bulldozer was eventually taken apart and sold for scraps.
Patrick Brower, editor of the local newspaper at the time, and a person named in Heemeyer’s “Hit List” said: “It was creepy and overwhelming to think that a person had devoted that much time and energy to building a machine of revenge. What a waste of creative and mechanical ability.”
Brower was also the author of the book “KILLDOZER: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage”. Brower’s book casts light on the bizarre Granby event, the rash of violent rampages in America, and this country’s fact-challenged landscape.
Many people considered Heemeyer to be a victim of a careless and indifferent government that approved the construction of a concrete factory with no regard to how it would affect Heemeyer’s business at the muffler shop. He was also named as the “last great American folk hero.”
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