We’ve all had bad days before. For most of us, we usually just put our head down and drive on through. It’s just one day right? Well not everyone has that attitude. Some people decide that they need to act like children or even worse, criminals. Marvin John Heemeyer was faced with an unfortunate situation. A situation where he could choose to either handle things like an adult, or like a child. He chose the latter…except he chose to be the most destructive child he could possibly be. He went a rampage that destroyed much of his town, and he did it in a homemade armored vehicle.
Marvin was a welder and an auto shop owner who was extremely unhappy with a recent zoning decision by the city. So he decided to exact some revenge, by turning a Komatsu D355A bulldozer into an armored vehicle. He covered it in steel and concrete, some of which was over a foot thick in some places. This made it immune to explosives and gunfire.
He completed his monstrous creation on June 4, 2004. He then set out on his mission to destroy as much of his town as possible. He couldn’t see outside the bulldozer, so he mounted cameras to it and used them to see outside. He even installed an air conditioner and fans inside to keep himself cool.
His destructive temper tantrum lasted for 2 hours. Police chased him through town, trying everything to stop him but to no avail.
His rampage finally ended when the bulldozer/tank skidded to a halt while plowing through the side of a building. Unfortunately, by the time authorities could get inside the vehicle, Marvin John Heemeyer had ended his own life.
Check Out This Video With Footage Of The Incident:
It’s unfortunate that Marvin felt the need to end his own life. The good news though is that no one else was hurt, which is pretty remarkable. Marvin and his armored bulldozer ended up destroying 13 buildings, knocking out natural gas services to city hall, destroyed several vehicles and leveled part of a utility service center. In total, the damages were found to be around $7 million. All of this destruction over a simple zoning dispute.