A ‘one-of-a-kind’ attack: Experts say bulldozer rampage defies labels in the age of domestic terrorism

In 2004, when the town of Granby was attacked by a fortified bulldozer, mass violence events were not as common as today. Decades later, the bizarre bulldozer attack defies labels, and even law enforcement officials can’t agree how to define it — domestic terrorism or an active shooter. 

While experts agree that it is possible for a similar attack to happen again, they say an increase in mental health awareness, social media use and counterterrorism efforts would make an attack of this magnitude difficult to plan unnoticed.

Fraser Winter Park Police Chief Glen Trainor, who was on the ground trying to stop the bulldozer as Grand County’s undersheriff at the time, said he believes the attacker could have been stopped before the rampage with today’s advances in policing methods and increased awareness of domestic terrorism. 

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“People don’t operate in silos,” Trainor said, adding that there were signs leading up to the event even though the attacker went to great lengths to hide his plans. “They don’t just snap.”

He thinks the attack was an act of domestic terrorism.

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“There is no question that if that were to happen today, that the response both locally and on a federal level would be significantly different,” Trainor said. “It was kind of in my mind that this was a domestic terrorism incident from the very beginning.” 

The United States has seen domestic terrorism steadily increase since 2004. Between 2013 and 2021, the FBI increased domestic terrorism investigations by 357%, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. However, the FBI’s Denver office told Sky-Hi News in an email that it does not consider events that unfolded in Granby on June 4, 2004, an act of domestic terrorism, which the agency defines as a criminal act “committed to further ideological goals, such as those of a political, social or racial nature.”

The FBI does not consider the bulldozer attack an active shooter event, either.

“A fortified bulldozer with mounted guns just doesn’t fit the FBI definition of ‘active shooter.’ He was one-of-a-kind in that regard,” Vikki Migoya, a public affairs officer for the FBI, wrote in an email.

Bill Owens, the governor of Colorado at the time, agrees that the Granby attacker was not a domestic terrorist but was motivated by vendettas. However, Owens was prepared to take military action against the bulldozer pending the consent of the Colorado National Guard. 

“I think he was just an angry local guy, getting wrapped up in what can sometimes be the very insular politics of a small town,” Owens said. 

Nicoletti-Flater Associates, a practice in Lakewood that specializes in public safety psychology, crisis intervention and violence prevention, categorizes the bulldozer incident as a “targeted-violence attack.” John Nicoletti and his colleagues created a review that compiled data about these types of attacks in Colorado and found there have been 17 from 1993 to 2023, including Granby.

The Nicoletti-Flater Associates review counts the targeted-violence attacks using the FBI’s definition of active shooter: “One or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Implicit in this definition is the shooter’s use of a firearm.”

From 1993 to 2003, the review identified four targeted-violence attacks in Colorado, including the Columbine High School shooting, and the public hadn’t yet realized that these types of incidents were a trend to take seriously, Nicoletti said. According to the review, these types of attacks more than tripled in the following decade.

Pre-attack behaviors

Nicoletti warned that the anniversary of the bulldozer attack could be a triggering event for survivors and that it could potentially inspire a copycat.

“If you’re triggered because of trauma, seek help. If you hear something that is concerning, make sure that you report them,” Nicoletti said. 

He stressed that intervening when someone is planning to harm themselves or others is key and that there are almost always signs.The Granby attacker went through a particular progression prior to acting out his violent plan, which Nicoletti says is very similar to the other attackers he analyzed in his review. 

First, there is a perceived injustice, then the person feels victimized, next a grudge is developed, and then the person becomes obsessed, according to Nicoletti. The targeted-violence review states that 59% of Colorado attackers are motivated by a personal grievance. 

“If you study the other shooters, like the Aurora theater shooter, you’ll see the same pattern. It is pretty consistent,” Nicoletti said.

Nicoletti explained that when a perceived injustice turns into an obsession, attackers begin to develop their armor or inventory. It is during this final stage of pre-attack behaviors where more warning signs are typically exhibited, according to Nicoletti. 

Surrounding all the perpetrators of targeted-violence attacks Nicoletti has studied are what he calls “bystanders.” These are people who ignore concerning behaviors or don’t want to get involved.

“People don’t like to believe that someone they know can do these atrocities, so they make excuses; they ignore all the behavioral signs. Denial is a pretty big thing,” Nicoletti said.

In active shooter cases, it is estimated by the FBI that 56% of perpetrators display their first instance of concerning behavior at least 25 months before the incident. On average, nearly five concerning behaviors are exhibited, ranging from mental and physical health problems to hygiene issues, according to an FBI study.

In its study of pre-attack behaviors in active shooters from 2000 to 2013, the FBI states that these concerning behaviors are “objectively knowable” to others and cause an uneasy feeling about the well-being and safety for those around them.

Some of the most common concerning behaviors the FBI identified include: mental health, interpersonal interactions, leakage, quality of thinking or communication, work performance, school performance, threats or confrontations, anger, physical aggression, risk-taking and firearm behavior.

Like more than half of the perpetrators in Nicoletti’s review, the attacker died by suicide — the only casualty in the Granby incident. 

A town terrorized

Two decades later, the attack has taken on a life of its own, and the perpetrator is celebrated by many anti-government groups, contrasting the widespread terror the community felt June 4, 2004. 

Patrick Brower, the former editor and publisher of Sky-Hi News who escaped the newsroom just before it was destroyed, believes the attacker didn’t care if he killed people based on the evidence.

“I don’t care what anyone says; he terrorized people that day,” Brower said while recounting all the ways people narrowly avoided death.

The milelong crime scene included shell casings from the tank’s weapons, according to the report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigations. Incident narratives filed by law enforcement reported hearing shots fired from the bulldozer, including at a business owner operating a front-end loader who was trying to stop the attacker. Brower recounts taking a photo of the nine armor-piercing bullet holes that struck the bucket of the loader in his book “Killdozer: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage.” 

The CBI report states there was a “large quantity of live ammunition,” three mounted long guns that were controlled from inside the machine and other weapons removed from the bulldozer.  

Rich Garner, a sergeant with the Grand County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the attack, recently recounted how rounds fired from the bulldozer whizzed over his head. He acknowledged that the attacker didn’t have any victims but said it wasn’t from a lack of trying.

“He attacked the town hall. … Just minutes prior to him getting there it was full of children,” Garner said.

Because the bulldozer was slow, it gave law enforcement time to respond and evacuate people, according to Garner, who said the attack could have ended much worse. Investigative reports show the machine had engineering flaws that inhibited the weapons’ capabilities. 

“Trying to shoot transformers to blow up the propane tanks, I mean, that is not the act of someone trying to avoid (causing) injury or death,” Garner said.

Trainor agrees that it was clear the attacker didn’t care about people’s lives that day.

“He didn’t kill anybody — but only because, whether we’re talking about God’s intervention or what — but he certainly tried,” Trainor said. 

Trainor explained that there is some cognitive dissonance among the community because the attacker had many friends. For the admirers outside of Grand County, Trainor thinks they just don’t know the true facts of the case.

“The trauma for everyone involved was quite large,” Trainor said. “When you look at all the facts of this, the man is not a hero. He is basically angry over a thing.” 

This story is from SkyHiNews.com