Angry businessman 'levels' his complaint in armored bulldozer
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GRANBY, Colo. — A muffler-shop owner reportedly angry at local government over a zoning dispute tore through town yesterday in an armored bulldozer, smashing buildings and firing shots as police tried to stop the slow-motion rampage.
Authorities were trying to blast their way into the steel-plated cab of the machine with explosives late yesterday, Grand County Emergency Management Director Jim Holihan said. At least one explosion was heard, but it was not immediately clear whether it penetrated the machine's makeshift armor.
The siege left a trail of splintered structures in this mountain tourist town, but there were no reports of injuries.
"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."
By late afternoon, the bulldozer was stuck in the rubble of a metal warehouse. Officers clambered on top, apparently trying to talk to the man, identified by the town manager as Marvin Heemeyer.
Heemeyer was angry after losing a zoning dispute over land near his muffler shop, town manager Tom Hale said.
He also had been fined $2,500 in a separate case for not having a septic tank, and other city-code violations at his business.
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. We didn't think he was going to do something like this."
The cab of the yellow bulldozer was protected with black metal plates apparently welded on over a period of weeks in his muffler shop.
Rod Moore, speaking by phone from his auto garage and towing company, said the bulldozer rumbled within 15 feet of his shop, with an officer perched on top, firing shots into the top. He said the officer at one point dropped an explosive into the exhaust pipe.
"He just kept shooting," Moore said. "The dozer was still going. ... It didn't do a thing."
Authorities with the Grand County sheriff's office and town police did not return calls seeking comment. The State Patrol said all roads in and out of the town 50 miles west of Denver were closed.
County manager Lurline Curran said at least some of the wrecked buildings belonged to people involved in one or both of the disputes.
"He evidently proceeded in destroying the properties of people involved with that," Curran said.
The bulldozer also knocked out natural-gas service to City Hall and a cement plant, damaging a truck and part of a utility service center, Xcel Energy spokesman Mark Stutz said.
Granby is a town of about 2,200 at nearly 8,000 feet. It is near the Winter Park ski resort and not far from the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.
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 several town facilities.