Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of Killdozer

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On June 4, 2004, Heemeyer drove his armored bulldozer through the wall of his former business, the concrete plant, the Town Hall, the office of the local newspaper that editorialized against him, the home of a former mayor's widow, and a hardware store owned by another man Heemeyer named in a lawsuit, as well as a few others. Owners of all of the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes.[11]

The rampage lasted for two hours and seven minutes, damaging 13 buildings,[9] knocking out natural gas service to City Hall and the concrete plant, damaging a truck, and destroying part of a utility service center.[12] Despite the great damage to property, no one besides Heemeyer was killed.[1] The cost of the damage rounded to an estimated $7 million.[13][14] According to Grand County commissioner James Newberry, Grand County emergency dispatchers used the reverse 911 emergency system to notify many residents and property owners of the rampage going on in the town.[15]

Defenders of Heemeyer contended that he made a point of not hurting anybody during his bulldozer rampage;[1] Ian Daugherty, a bakery owner, said Heemeyer "went out of his way" not to harm anyone. Others offered different views. The sheriff's department argued the fact that no one was injured was not due to good intent as much as it must have been due to luck. Heemeyer had installed two rifles in firing ports on the inside of the bulldozer,[16] and fired 15 bullets from his rifle at power transformers and propane tanks. "Had these tanks ruptured and exploded, anyone within one-half mile (800 m) of the explosion could have been endangered", the sheriff's department said; within such a range were 12 police officers and residents of a senior citizens complex.[5] The sheriff's department also asserted Heemeyer fired many bullets from his semi-automatic rifle at Cody Docheff when Docheff tried to stop the assault on his concrete batch plant by using a wheel tractor-scraper, which was pushed aside by Heemeyer's bulldozer. Later, Heemeyer fired on two state patrol officers before they had fired at him.[5] The sheriff's department also noted that 11 of the 13 buildings Heemeyer bulldozed were occupied until moments before their destruction. At the town library, for example, a children's program was in progress when the incident began.[2][5]

One officer dropped a flash-bang grenade down the bulldozer's exhaust pipe, with no immediate apparent effect. Local and state patrol, including a SWAT team, walked behind and beside the bulldozer, occasionally firing, but the armored bulldozer was impervious to their shots. Attempts to disable the bulldozer's cameras with gunfire failed as the bullets were unable to penetrate the 3-inch (7.6 cm) bulletproof plastic. At one point during the rampage, Undersheriff Glenn Trainor climbed atop the bulldozer and rode the bulldozer "like a bronc-buster, trying to figure out a way to get a bullet inside the dragon".[2] However, he was eventually forced to jump off to avoid being hit with debris.[2]

At this point, local authorities and the Colorado State Patrol feared they were running out of options in terms of firepower, and that Heemeyer would soon turn against civilians in Granby. Then-governor Bill Owens allegedly considered authorizing the National Guard to utilize either an Apache attack helicopter equipped with a Hellfire missile or a two-man fire team equipped with a Javelin anti tank missile to destroy the bulldozer, only to deem the option unnecessary due to Heemeyer getting stuck in the Gambles hardware store. As late as 2011, Governor Owens' staff still vehemently denied considering such a course of action, but since then members of the State Patrol revealed that, to the contrary, the governor did consider authorizing an attack but ultimately decided against it due to the potential for collateral damage of a missile strike in the heart of Granby being significantly higher than what Heemeyer could have caused with his bulldozer.[17]

Two problems arose as Heemeyer destroyed the Gambles hardware store. The radiator of the dozer had been damaged and the engine was leaking various fluids, and Gambles had a small basement. The bulldozer's engine failed, and Heemeyer dropped one tread into the basement, but couldn't get out. About a minute later, one of the SWAT team members, who had swarmed around the machine, reported hearing a single gunshot from inside the sealed cab. It was later determined that Heemeyer had shot himself in the head with a .357-caliber handgun.[1][18]

Police first used explosives in an attempt to remove the steel plates, but after the third explosion failed, they cut through them with an oxyacetylene cutting torch. Grand County Emergency Management Director Jim Holahan stated that authorities were able to access and remove Heemeyer's body at 2:00 a.m. on June 5.[19]

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During his rampage, he managed to destroy a local bank, his former business, hardware store, the town hall, the police department building, the home of Granby’s deceased former mayor, the town’s library, local newspaper office, former judge’s home, and an enormous amount of cars. He spent a few minutes trying to ignite the Independent Propane Company’s storage tanks by firing at them with his .50 cal rifle. Luckily, they did not explode or catch fire.

The incident left 7 million dollars worth of damage.

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