While that was an amazing and fascinating spectacle, the guy was obviously doing his best to destroy as much property and any people that may have gotten in his way as he could . As was mentioned before, it’s an absolute miracle that nobody other than the lunatic himself was hurt. I didn’t realize he was killed. Unfortunate, but had he gotten that M-60 free of the highway divider and into the oncoming traffic, there’s no telling how many people would have been killed, even with one track slung off.
The cops did what they had to do.
On the plus side, at least now we know what an M-60 can do to a Winnebago.
Poor Guy? [:(!] What a disgusting comment! [soapbox] This guy exactly what he deserved! [xx(]
BTW: Tear gas and flash-bangs would have been fatal in the confines of a tank (suffocation and concussion).
There was an independent film made about this story, in 2002 , called “Cul De Sac: A Suburban War Story”. If you do a Google search on this film title you will find out more about the guy, Shawn Nelson, who stole the tank.
I was hoping to find a link to the actual news footage. I did find that American University acquired a copy of the “Cul de Sac” video back in December 2003 – VHS 7270. They may be willing to loan it out (http://www.library.american.edu/).
The tank in question was an M60A1 RISE/Passive tank. The M60A3TTS left Regular Army service around the Gulf War (except for the CMTC’s OPFOR as mentioned above). The National Guard used either the M60A1 RISE/Passive or M60A3TTS beyond the Desert Storm timeframe. The USMC used the M60A1 RISE/Passive through Desert Storm as well.
The public was in no danger from the main gun of that tank. The gun was in travel lock the whole time so there was no way to traverse the turret or elevate or depress the main gun even if there was a full crew with ammo in the tank. Most tanks have the firing pin removed and stored in the arms room vault so the main gun couldn’t be fired any way.
Additionally, a tank is a crew served weapon meaning it takes a crew of men to operate it. When someone is driving, they are not even in the turret so there is no way to drive and fire the guns if only one person is inside. Disregard what you saw in the Rambo movie (#3?).
Once the tank was hung up on the divider, it was basicallly immobile. The police could have tossed a flashbang or stun grenade inside the turret once they popped the hatch. There was probably no need to shoot the guy, but you could never be sure that the driver didn’t have a pistol. I think if they tossed a tear gas canister inside and shut the hatch, that the driver would have come out on his own.
All that being said, the tank itself is a deadly weapon and the driver did attempt to kill bystanders with the tank. He probably got what he deserved, although he probably needed mental help more than a bullet.
no, even if they had taken him peacefully what would they have done with him??? stick him in jail or an asylum??? he would have ended up killing someone in there probably.
This from one of the several film reviews about the film “Cul De Sac: A Suburban War Story”. It provides a profile of Shawn Nelson, the guy who stole the tank. It also takes us a bit off-topic.
"In May 1995, the San Diego area was witness to one of the weirdest criminal activities. An unemployed plumber named Shawn Nelson stole a tank from a National Guard compound and drove it wildly through the streets of the suburb of Clairemont, running down light posts, fire hydrants and parked vehicles (but, thankfully, not any people). Nelson gave the police a lengthy chase before he got the tank stuck on a highway divider. The police surrounded the immobilized tank, pried it open with bolt cutters and ordered Nelson to come out. When Nelson refused, the police opened a fatal volley of gunfire into the tank.
"Shawn Nelson was only 35 when he was killed, yet his brief life was riddled with considerable problems. An Army veteran who left the service to become a plumber, Nelson fell into a severe drug and alcohol habit. He also became obsessed with the notion that his backyard was home to a gold mine, and the surplus of his time became devoted to digging a mineshaft in search of the buried treasure. (The film estimates the shaft went either 17 or 25 feet into the ground–no one seems to have an accurate measurement.) Nelson’s pre-occupation with his gold hunt led him to file for a mineral rights permit with the municipal government.
"Unfortunately, Nelson’s numerous demons eventually overpowered him. Physically and financially bankrupt, facing a foreclosure on his mortgage and unable to pay for his various addictions, Nelson planned to make one final statement against a world which he felt betrayed him. Recalling his Army training and remembering the National Guard had a compound in his neighborhood, Nelson stole the tank and went on his destructive joyride.
“The film never explains how he was able to get the tank away from the National Guard, and no one from the National Guard is interviewed here. “Cul de Sac: A Suburban War Story” does interview Nelson’s brother and friends, nearly all of whom (it seems) share some of his pharmaceutical or drinking habits. Their recollections of Nelson are, on the whole, charitable: clearly the man had acute problems, yet the people interviewed here are kind enough to point out Nelson’s finer traits and kindness (most notably allowing the neighborhood kids to play in the dirt piles dug up from his mine and his offer to help train other drug addicts in learning how to become a plumber). Nelson was not a stupid man, by any stretch, as his backyard mine was a model of professional engineering and his bookcase was packed with volumes on mining; that he would consider filing for mineral rights, while seemingly ludicrous on the surface, was actually an intelligent idea if the brief possibility of gold on his property actually proved to be correct. Watching the film, it is heartbreaking to realize no one (either Nelson or anyone around him) was able to channel his talents properly.”
This event happened in San Diego. The guy stole a M-60 from a National Guard armory. The drivers hatch was not secured properly. He worked it lose and crawled through the hatch. He ended up on the 163 freeway where he attempted to climb over the concrete freeway divider. He tried to cross the divider at an angle and was hung up on it. He then threw a track. In my day, that was called a mobility kill. He wasn’t going anywhere no matter how much he rev’d the engine. The turret was in travel lock. The cops climbed up the back of the tank and cut off the the lock on the loader’s hatch. The guy wouldn’t come and that is when they shot him. He didn’t have gun and after he was hung up, he didn’t pose an immediate threat. The cop afterward bragged about how he used him military knowledge to gain access to the tank. In other words, he cut the lock off the hatch. If he had any military knowledge, he would have known that the tank was dead. If they were so concerned about the engine reving, they could have opened the covers over the engine and popped the fuel quick disconects.
I remember from the clip that he drove right through a camper parked on the street. What destruction that tank caused. Can you even think what he would have done if the tank didn’t get stuck on the center median.
mark956
im not sure where i heard it but I think he was durnk… maybe just a rumor… lol who the hell steals a tank just for the interior shots??? If i did it, i would have put it to more use… like a modeling contest lol…cant lose with that replica… right down to the real engine and working gun system… jk
If that guy was so smart why did he try to cross the divider at such an angle that the tank got stuck and why didn’t he lock the hatches from the inside?
I’m almost positive it was an M60A1. That was a long time ago though. Thank goodness he got high centered and couldn’t move anymore. Pure dumb luck he was the only fatality.
If I’m not mistaken, the M-60 doesn’t need key to get started. The guy who stole it was a former armor crew member (maybe from the Marines I think). He had been fired from his civilian job and had been kicked out of the military for some reason or another and wanted a death by cop suicide type deal.
If he hadn’t gotten caught up on the highway divider he could have been the biggest mass murderer ever!
ey, thanks for the comments and opinions guys!
Major Rob thanks too!
i guess with all of the opinions i’ve read, i think the guy’s life is crumbling down that’s why he did it. as far as i can remember, he was kicked out of the marines and maybe that triggered his rampage. maybe he really love the marines and he’s ready to open up a can whooped for it.
they were not not sure if he had a weapon, and they knew he mentally unstable, amnd the police on scene knew that HADto stop him, thats why they shot him…
The officers who shot him were under investigation for excessive force but the examination board board felt they did not use excessive force given the circumstances…
BTW, that guys family did try to sue the LAPD for shooting him…
This info is what i read in the book, and from what i saw in interviews…
But, what I don’t understand is that: How could this man steal the tank in the first place. The tank was stationed in the National Guards base under security guard. This man was no longer a memeber of the Army, yet how could he pass all the checkpoints and security gates without proper ID. How could he sneak in. Furthermore, even when he got into the tank and left, why didn’t the National Guards stop him right there, they had much better chance and firpower to stop him there. It took much later that the LAPD(whose firepower was no match for a tank) to stop.
Drive by your local National Guard armory or US Army Reserve Center. It wasn’t until after 9/11 that the security was increased. The motor pools are probably on the local police’s security rounds, but these areas were not guarded around the clock. The Armories and Reserve Centers do not store any amount of ammunition there. The full-time workers there would work normal Monday-Friday and during the weekend drill (normally the first weekend of the month). Go there on a Saturday or Sunday that no monthly drill is scheduled and no one would be there. Go there on a normal workday after 5:00 PM or before 7:00 AM and no one will be there.
If you every graduated an armor course (or combat engineer course where you learned to operate the CEV/AVLB), commandeering a tank parked in an empty motor pool would be fairly easy. All you would need is a heavy duty bolt cutter and perhaps an adjustable wrench. A determined intruder could get through whatever chain link fencing was up (use bolt cutter, squeeze through a gap, find a place to climb over, drive your car into the fence, etc.). Climb up on the nearest tank, cut the lock using the bolt cutters, and start it up. Might have to connect the batteries (hence the adjustable wrench) to get it to fire up. Again, a former armor crewman would have no problems firing up a fully operational tank.
Once inside, combat lock the turret from the inside and away you go. BTW, if the guy had combat locked the loader’s hatch from the inside, they probably wouldn’t have been able to open it so easily.
By the time the police respond to or discover the motor pool was broken into, the person would be well on his way. Of course, this incident is pre-9/11 and security measures have been stepped up.
I thought it was an M60A3, but haven’t seen the film for years… and I see from the links above that it was an M60A1 RISE Passive… Righto Major! The M60 was the old ‘turtle dome’ (turret) type…
For a former tanker, he didn’t know much about driving… a normally skilled driver could have negortiated the median without a hitch… good thing he was a putz at driving!
If I were the cop, I don’t think I’d have chanced opening the doors on the back deck, not with the thing jumping around like that! Also, the cop didn’t know if the guy was armed or not. He made a choice to protect his life and the lives of the public… what if a family had been cleaning out that camper? Our little tank ‘driver’ didn’t seem to care much about that!
I have to ask myself what I’d have done if I were the cop… I’d have gone home to dinner in one piece! He took enough chances just getting up onto that 55 ton tank, not to mention working his way up to the turret, then cutting off the lock. A human body doesn’t have a lot of chance against the tracks of an M60 series tank. If I recall correctly, they weigh in the neighborhood of 2.7 tons each.
Actually I believe he was a tanker … either ex - regular army or guardsman … from what I can remember he did have tank experience in one form or another …