Marvin Heemeyer - The Last American Folk Hero

June 4th 2017 marked the 13th anniversary of Marvin Heemeyer's rampage through Granby Colorado. I meant to post this a few days ago but completely forgot as the date slid right past me.

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Marvin Heemeyer resident and business owner in Granby Colorado. The city council approved the construction of a factory in the lot across from Marvin's shop. This process this blocked the only access road to his shop. Marvin tried to get the city council to aprrove a new access road to his shop, even purchasing a bulldozer so he could do the work himself. The city denied Marvin.

The factory went up anyway. It was now impossible to visit Marvin's shop. On top of cutting him off, the factory construction disconnected Marvin's shop from the city sewage lines. The city than begin to fine Marvin for this.

With his business in ruin, Marvin chose to fight back. Over the course of a year and a half Marvin secretly upgraded the bulldozer with three foot thick steel and concrete armor, three gun slots (he didn't shoot anyone) and cameras guarded with bulletproof glass so he could see while he was in the tank he built for himself.

On June 4th 2004 Marvin lowered the armored shell over top of himself, with no intention of ever coming back out.

He drove the bulldozer through the walls of his shop and straight into the concrete factory that ruined his business. Over the course of the next several hours Marvin drove his bulldozer through 13 buildings owned by those officials that had wronged him, including the city council building itself. No one was hurt, although some believe if the city did not act so quickly there may have been casualties. Some of the city buildings were occupied just moments before but where evacuated quickly.

Swat teams swarmed the bulldozer, but it proved immune to small arms fire and even explosives. One SWAT team member reported dropping a flashbang down the exhaust with no effect. The city was considering enlisting a tank or even an apache helicopter to stop the tank, but realized the collateral damage would have been more than just what the bulldozer was capable of.

Marvin's bulldozer eventually became trapped in one of the buildings. Marvin chose to take his life, the only life he took that day. Swat teams reported hearing a single gunshot. It took a team of engineers to cut the bulldozer open and remove Marvin.

From notes left behind after his passing:
"I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."