Shawn Nelson

Born on August 21, 1959, in California, Shawn Timothy Nelson was the second of Betty and Fred Nelson's three sons.

He attended James Madison High School—where he was a sophomore during the 1975–1976 academic year, grew up in Clairemont, San Diego, and later married Suzy Hellman in 1984.

In 1978, Nelson enlisted in the United States Army and received training at Fort Knox.

He was stationed in Germany with the Armor Branch as a tank commander.

Private Nelson separated in 1980 due to multifaceted' disciplinary problems" with an honorable discharge. Afterwards, he began a successful career in plumbing, eventually starting his own San Diego business in 1991.

A patient at Sharp Memorial Hospital in 1990, Nelson later sued the hospital over a fight involving an emergency room security guard.

Nelson long struggled with alcohol abuse and methamphetamines, a factor in his wife leaving in 1991.

Nelson sued them again in 1992 for malpractice, the same year his mother died there.

The lawsuits were consolidated and dismissed in 1993.

Nelson's brother would later say that Shawn Nelson "thought he got a raw deal there".

In Clairemont, Nelson was a minor celebrity for his unusual behavior.

He spent nighttime hours mowing his lawn and digging for gold in a 20 ft backyard pit, his property was covered in machine detritus and garbage, and police had visited nine times in 1994–95 "on calls ranging from reports of domestic violence to a complaint that Nelson's van had been stolen."

He was renowned, but not well known by his neighbors.

Nelson's van and plumbing tools were stolen in June 1994, and his contracting business declined.

The 1995 San Diego tank rampage was the theft of an M60A3 tank by Shawn Timothy Nelson and his destruction of cars and utilities in suburban San Diego.

Nelson was a native Californian and United States Army veteran with unusual habits that drew the attention of his neighbors.

By the second quarter of 1995, the 35-year-old had recently suffered financial, professional, and interpersonal setbacks, some of which stemmed from long-term substance abuse.

On May 17, he stole a 57.3 t tank from the local California Army National Guard armory and drove it around for 6 mi, crushing cars and infrastructure in his path—though without injuring anyone.

The tank crashed and was partially disabled, and San Diego police forced it open before shooting and killing Nelson.

Nelson's motives are unknown.

The incident raised questions about military security at the Guard armory and spurred changes in California's tank storage.

By May 1995, Nelson had "a history of medical problems", including a spinal fracture caused by a motorcycle crash.

Unemployed, his house on Willamette Avenue was being foreclosed upon, his utilities had been shut off, an eviction notice had been served, and he had recently broken up with a girlfriend.

Nelson made "statements alluding to suicide".

The California National Guard armory at 32.80061°N, -117.16156°W was surrounded by an 8 ft chain-link fence, which was topped by three runs of barbed wire.

Armory personnel usually left by 6p.m.

The M60A3 tank is 31 ft long, weighs 57.3 t fully-loaded, and can reach speeds of 45 mph with a range of nearly 300 mi.

It has a 7.62 mm M73 machine gun, 12.7 mm M2 Browning heavy machine gun, and 105 mm M68 tank gun; these weapons systems at the San Diego armory were all unloaded.

On the evening of May 17, the armory's gates were unsecured because personnel were working late.

Nelson was uncontested at 6:30p.m. when he drove his Chevrolet van onto the property.

The shirtless and disheveled man then broke the padlocks on three different tanks before starting an M60A3.

Nelson crashed through the armory's gate at approximately 6:45 in the evening.

Nelson drove the tank through residential San Diego neighborhoods, where residents described the destruction as intentional: "He didn't go down the center of the street, [...] It seems he just wanted to get the utilities and cause as much as damage without hurting people."

Over a distance of 6 mi, he destroyed traffic lights, a bus bench, 40 cars —crushing some down to a height of 2+1/2 ft—and took out fire hydrants and utility poles, disrupting electricity to roughly 5100 households.

Nelson inflicted no injuries during his 25-minute rampage.

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) learned of the incident at 6:46p.m. when a detective reported that he was following Nelson.

SDPD units headed to intercept the tank, and California State Route 163 (SR 163) was closed.

An SDPD captain said of Nelson's tank skills: "He obviously knew what he was doing. He was working that tank pretty good."

After driving onto SR 163, Nelson crashed the tank into a 3 ft traffic barrier at 32.79396°N, -117.15843°W, near Sharp Memorial Hospital.

The impact dislodged one of the tank's tracks.