GRANBY, Colo., June 5 (AP) - The owner of a muffler shop plowed a makeshift armored bulldozer into buildings Friday after a dispute with officials and then was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a SWAT team cut into the machine with a blowtorch early Saturday, the authorities said.
Jim Holahan, emergency management chief of Grand County, said the driver, identified as Marvin Heemeyer, appeared to have shot himself. Mr. Heemeyer plowed the armor-plated bulldozer into the town hall, a former mayor's home and at least five other buildings on Friday. The machine ground to a halt in the wreckage of a warehouse.
City officials said he was angry over a zoning dispute and fines from city code violations at his business.
Authorities set off three explosions and fired at least 200 rounds at the steel plates welded to the bulldozer, which looked like an upside-down Dumpster. After the third explosion failed, officials cut their way in with a blowtorch, Mr. Holahan said.
Mr. Holahan said Mr. Heemeyer was armed with a .50-caliber weapon but appeared to be deliberately avoiding injuring anyone. No other injuries were reported.
County Commissioner Duane Daley said Mr. Heemeyer apparently guided the machine with a video camera and two monitors. Two guns were mounted in front and aimed through portals. Undersheriff Glen Trainor said the bulldozer's armor plates consisted of two sheets of half-inch steel with a layer of concrete between them. Residents of this tourist town of 2,200 described a bizarre scene as the bulldozer slowly crashed through buildings, trees and lampposts, with dozens of officers walking ahead or behind it, firing into the machine and shouting at townspeople to flee.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/national/06bulldozer.html?pagewanted=print&position=>
Carl
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