Mountain Park Concrete continues to recover from a June 4 attack of gunfire and bulldozer ramming at the hands of a former business neighbor (note “Plant opponents,” page 4). The company's Granby, Colo., precast plant and batch plant enclosure buildings were the first facilities hit by Marvin Heemeyer, who apparently fortified a bulldozer with armor and concrete to effect a violent vendetta against Mountain Park and town officials. Heemeyer had blamed those officials for re-zoning measures that enabled the concrete company to open a six-acre operation on land adjacent to his muffler repair business.

Grand County Sheriff's investigators discovered a portable concrete mixer and other equipment housed in a shop Heemeyer continued to occupy after closing the repair business and selling the property. In a June 13 report based on new details from investigators, the Denver Post assessed how Heemeyer had used the shop to customize the bulldozer as essentially a tank with ports through which an operator could view targets and aim weapons. Town and law enforcement officials are speculating how Heemeyer succeeded in concealing his activities, the portable mixer suggesting that the bulldozer's 4- to 6-in. concrete shield was built using packaged dry mix.

Mountain Park was one of 12 private or public-property owners hit in the rampage. After the ramming of his precast plant, Mountain Park owner Cody Docheff reportedly took to a wheel loader to fend off further damage from Heemeyer and his bulldozer. The attempt at a blockade was unsuccessful and drew fire from a .50-caliber rifle. The sheriff's department anticipates the investigation of events leading up to the rampage will continue for weeks. Mountain Park officials are withholding comment.