The tragic story of Marvin Himeyer, a fifty-two-year-old welder who lived in the town of Granby for only a few years, excited not only the United States, but the whole world. Now this act is considered as a spontaneous action of the anti-globalist. Marvin Himeyer is America’s last hero. So journalists dubbed him for intransigence and uncompromising struggle against a corrupt state system.
Biography
Marvin Himayer was born on October 28, 1951. He graduated from the school in 1968. A year later he went to serve in the US Air Force. March 17, 1971 he was sent to fight in Vietnam. There he served at the air base as a senior aviator. After 4 years, he was demobilized, and he returned to his homeland, in South Dakota. Marvin's acquaintances describe his character in different ways. Some speak of him as a good and friendly guy, while others consider him unreliable, too suspicious and dangerous.
Advocate of the legalization of gambling
Despite the fact that Himeyer did not live in the town of Granby for long, he managed to make both friends and enemies. His character was very controversial. Take, for example, the case when, as the owner of a silencer repair workshop, he once threatened his client to kill her husband if she did not pay him for the repair.
His friends said that if you have a friend, it is better not to find Marvin, but if he decides that you are an enemy, it is difficult to imagine a more dangerous opponent than him.
Conflict situation
The life story of Marvin Himeyer in the town of Granby at first did not portend anything tragic. So far, the cement plant, the walls of which was his workshop, has not decided to expand. The fact is that not far from Gramby was located the winter resort of Aspen. Millionaires like to come there, and each of them wants to have his own home there. The fashion for winter cottages provoked a construction boom, as a result of which the demand for cement increased.
In 2001, city authorities and a special commission approved the construction of a new cement plant by Mountain Park. After that, the owners of the enterprise began to buy nearby land. Their methods, to put it mildly, were not always legal.
The cement company paid an average of 50 thousand dollars for each of the sites, but Himeyer refused to sell his land at that price and asked for 270 thousand. When the buyers agreed, he raised the price to 500 thousand, and then to 1 million. Here are the owners decided to find a council on him.
Last straw
This is where the scandalous story of Marvin Himeyer begins with the owners of a cement plant. According to the territorial plan approved by the city authorities, the company cut off the only road leading to the workshop of the welder. Marvin filed a lawsuit to appeal this decision, but lost. He wanted permission to install a sewer, but the land owner refused him.
Seeing such disrespectful attitude on the part of the official authorities, he buys a decommissioned dozer. Marvin Himeyer repaired the engine with his own hands and decided to pave his own road to his workshop, to bypass the factory territories. But here he was disappointed, as the city administration forbade this to be done, and even fined him for the lack of sewage for 2.5 thousand dollars. He paid a fine, and attached to the receipt a note with only one word - “cowards”.
It seems that the story of Marvin Himeyer would not have been so sad if the city authorities had not added the last straw to his patience. When his father died, he went to the funeral, and when he returned a few days later, he discovered that he had been turned off the water, the lights and sealed the workshop. In addition, a local bank threatened to take his house from him, as an alleged error in registering a mortgage loan was discovered.
Preparation for war
As already mentioned, in the spring of 2004, Marvin's father died. His younger brother's wife later recalled that Himeyer behaved at the funeral a little strange, as if he came to say goodbye to all relatives. In addition, she thought that he did not want to leave at all.
Marvin began work on improving his bulldozer almost immediately as soon as he was refused permission to build a driveway to his workshop. He drove his tractor, which he planned to use to lay the road, into the garage and proceeded to modify it.
Modernization
First, Himeyer decided to strengthen the cabin with the engine. To do this, he installed home-made composite armor, which he made of steel sheets and cement poured between them. After that, he equipped several embrasures around the control center itself, and also installed one video camera in front and behind, and then displayed their image on the monitors in the cockpit.
Chimeyer Marvin John prepared very carefully, so he transferred small supplies of food and several bottles of water to the tractor cab. He did not forget about the cylinder with air, gas mask and weapons. He had a carbine, a rifle and a revolver.
As expected, he carried out the modernization of his bulldozer from three months to a year and a half. Surely Himeyer was struck by the fact that none of the casual visitors to the workshop was surprised or worried when he saw such a powerful armored car.
Before the war of Marvin Himeyer began, he specially recorded his message on several tapes. On them, he left an explanation of his act.
Marvin Himeyer's War
On Friday June 4, he sent all the tapes he had recorded to his younger brother, after which he closed himself in the cab of the bulldozer. Using a makeshift remote-controlled crane, a man lowered an armored box to the chassis. As mentioned earlier, he equipped his tractor with several cameras and monitors. In addition, in case of their pollution by garbage or dust, the craftsman brought air compressors to them.
At 3 o'clock on the same day, the bulldozer Marvin Himeyer easily broke through the wall of the workshop and crashed hard into the building of the concrete plant Mountain Park. After these actions, the 911 service was already called without stopping.
Cody Dochev, who witnessed how a huge and unusual armored tractor literally destroys a plant, wanted to intervene. He tried to climb into the cockpit of a bulldozer, but they began to shell him from embrasures.
After about 10-15 minutes, the buildings of the enterprise were completely destroyed, and several cars standing on its territory were destroyed. After that, Himeyer's car drove onto the highway and thundered towards the city.
At that time, an unusual sight could be observed on the road: a whole string of police cars lined up behind a slowly moving bulldozer , all with sirens on. One of the police cars tried to block his path, but was crushed like a tin can. Glen Trainor, the acting sheriff’s assistant, managed to climb onto the cab of a riding bulldozer and fire 37 bullets from his service pistol, but it was impossible to break through such armor.
Granby City
I must say that Himeyer had a whole list of objects that he planned to destroy. When his car reached its final destination, the city police had already met him. Of course, against such a whopper, law enforcement officers did not have any weapons. Since it was impossible to penetrate such armor with conventional ammunition, special forces were called in to help, who tried to blow up the bulldozer. But all attempts to destroy the car and the one who sits in it failed.
All the police could do in this situation was to warn local residents about the danger that threatened them. At that time, from the side of a helicopter flying over the city, this tragic event was broadcast live on all news television channels.
Despite the fact that it was quite difficult for Marvin to drive such a bulky and clumsy vehicle, he managed to find and destroy his intended goals. And they were the buildings of the city hall and the editorial office of the local newspaper, the house of the former mayor and other buildings. On the way to their goals, the bulldozer destroyed the cars left on the road. Although the destruction was significant, none of the people were seriously injured.
The death of the last hero
Soon, the police procured an industrial bulldozer, but the armored Komatsu easily knocked it over to the side of the road. Within an hour, Marvin Himeyer demolished 13 buildings and drove to the next target - “Gamble Equipment”. The significant weight of the armor and the damage caused by small arms began to gradually affect the maneuverability of the tractor. In addition, the radiator was broken, and coolant flowed out of it. As a result, the car began to lose power and, breaking through the wall of the supermarket, under the force of its own gravity fell into a small basement. The overheated engine could no longer pull the tractor out of the trap.
After that, a group of special forces surrounded the vehicle, and someone said that they heard a lone gunshot from the cockpit. The car stalled forever, finally ending its destructive march, which lasted only 2 hours and 7 minutes, causing damage of $ 7 million. So ended the story of Marvin John Chimera.
Effects
To get inside the cabin, special forces used explosives. Hacking the armor was only possible using a gas cutter. After his 12-hour work, the body of Marvin Himeyer was removed to the surface. As the police established, he shot himself from his 375-caliber pistol. Later, it was repeatedly emphasized in all media that Himeyer Marvin John was the only victim. It seems that journalists tried to bring this fact as evidence of his rare ingenuity and heroism.
But, as you know, in the buildings just before the destruction there were people. In addition, he shot into a tank with fuel, and this could lead to large explosions and numerous casualties. Himeyer also made an attempt to block the wall in one of the buildings, near which stood two police officers.
After the lifeless body was pulled out of the cab, several rifles and a list of addresses of enterprises and buildings with the names of their owners were found in it. By the way, all destroyed property was insured, and then restored as soon as possible. But the cement plant has not recovered from the destruction, the owners decided that it needs to be disposed of, and sold it.
Marvin Himeyer is America’s last hero. So journalists dubbed him. Today in the USA there is a group of people who literally idolize him for his courage, intransigence and uncompromising struggle against a corrupt state system.