Man in bulldozer barrels through town near Denver
 

GRANBY, Colo. - Police surrounded a makeshift armored bulldozer in which an armed man was rampaging through this northern Colorado town Friday afternoon, firing shots and knocking down several buildings, local media reported.

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The bulldozer was reported to have been flipped over in a hardware store that it barreled into late Friday afternoon as police fired high-powered weapons at it.

Scott Schaffer, a witness, told NBC affiliate KUSA-TV of Denver that bullets could not penetrate the homemade armor plating, which appeared to have been welded onto a large tracked Caterpillar tractor.

“It is completely armored,” Schaffer said. “There is no way to get to it.”

“Think of the biggest bulldozer you’ve ever seen in your life, completely covered up in steel,” Schaffer said. “He’s got gun turrets. ... He’s even got the tracks covered up.”


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5139598/

Got this from another article..

"He drove through a cement plant, wiped out town hall, took out the newspaper office," said Schaffer. Schaffer said that the town hall building didn't completely collapse, but the other two buildings did.

The Caterpillar also hit the Liberty bank and the Xcel Energy building.

Curran said police moved in a big scraper out of the landfill trying to block the bulldozer's way. She said that didn't stop its advance.

http://www.kusa.com/acm_news.aspx?OS...7-c589c01ca7bf

He is practicaly destroying the whole city. Its funny they might bring in the national guard.

http://images.viacomlocalnetworks.co...e_156185205/xl

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0604/3383827.jpg http://images.viacomlocalnetworks.co...e_156192209/xlhttp://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/US/Centr...dozer.kmgh.jpg

Granby is a small mountain town of about 1500 people about 2 hours West of Denver on U.S. 40, the old "National Road." If memory serves, it is just past the town and ski area of Winter Park. It is one of the stops on Amtrak after leaving Denver.

According to TV news reports, the driver, who was identified, but I don't remember the name had an ongoing argument with the town fathers and courts regarding a property dispute with the cement company which was one of his first "targets."

As of 35 minutes ago (it's 7:45 PM here now), the man was still holed up in his "tank," with SWAT teams and the Jefferson County Bomb Squad trying to figure out how to get him out and if the vehicle is bobbytraped.

It appears that he was very specific in the buildings he attacked which included the town hall, library, the mayor's former home and other businesses owned by town council members.

The live and videotaped pictues are pretty amazing. The one pic above with the "CBS4" logos were on my former station. Their helicopter got there while the action was still going on and showed some remarkable pictures of the bulldozer turned tank literally knocking holes in buildings. Finally, he apparantely high centerd the tractor and they moved in road grading equipment to block exits. It is now stuck halfway into a building (perhaps a hardware store, but I'm not sure. At one point there were pictures of what appeared to be smoke as police fired something at the "tank," but doing no damage. Since most small town cops don't carry bazookas and RPG's, my speculation is that it might have been tear gas used to try to get the driver out.

Interviews with eyewitnesses were pretty remarkable. Pictures also showed police climbing over the top of the tractor trying to find a way into the armour.

The vehicle itself was identified at a Catapiller D-5 bulldozer, buy you would not have recognized it. The man had welded huge pieces of steel all around it, and there was literally no place to shoot. I don't know how he could see to drive it.

A woman identified as his girlfriend claimed he has been planning this since January. When the local extended newscasts finally ended, the Governor was on his way (heaven knows what he'll do) and the situation was still a stalemate.

Pretty amazing stuff. More later.

I'd love to know what was this guy's motivation - is this insanity or "prairie justice"?

At 9:15 PM (MST) there is basically no change. The governor is on the scene. It is reported that the driver did fire a police. Nobody injured at this point, although eyewitnesses say there were children in the library (which I think may have been a part of the town hall -- that's a little unclear) when it was attacked.

The building the "tank" is stuck in is a hardware store.

Somebody said in one of the reports that the National Guard might be called to help. There is no verified report of that at this time that I am aware of.

As for motive, as I said the guy was in an ongoing property dispute in which he had lost. It is felt that he is taking it out on those he believes are responsible.

Probably a short circuit in the guy's wiring somewhere.

Wouldn't it be mountain justice? There's no prairie up here. ;)

There are some very strange cats in these parts.

ETA: According to the local news, the man, Marv Heemeyer, was upset about a plant that was going to be built next to his muffler shop. The police tried to blow up the tank twice but it didn't work, and Heemeyer was trapped in a hardware store, although they didn't say what happened to him after that.

Valkyrie beat me to it.

According to TV News, just about the time I was posting last, the police tried to blast their way into the "tank." Then they tried again, just before 10:00 PM. It didn't work either time. This damned thing must be armoured like a battleship. Rumor has it that they will keep trying.

A quick update: I said in my first post that Granby had about 1500 people. Tonight they are saying 2200. A real metropolis at any rate. Can you imagine the first cops on the radio? "He's got a WHAT?" And the CAT is a D-9A instead of a D-5. Still, you don't want to try to stop 45 tons of steel.

I was thinking that if I were still with Channel 4, I would probably be spending the night in Granby. Looking at some of the building selectively, it reminded me of being part of the coverage of an F-5 tornado in Limon, CO years back. The buildings looked very much like the ones damaged today. But the tornado wasn't as selective and did a lot more damage.

That's just cool.

I want to know where I can get one of those things.

Nahhh... just bring on an AC-130 gunship and hosepipe the sonofabitch with a hail of 20mm, 40mm and 105mm shells! Just give the town enough time to clear out... [/twisted evil]

According to the news link I got, he killed himself in the tank.

OMG, I was thinking the same thing. Is it wrong that I'm kind of amused by this?

It would be a great thing to have during rush hour.

Yeah... the ultimate urban assault vehicle! Turns SUVs - and anything else that's in the way - into recyclable trash! :D