San Diego Tank Rampage

This is the M-60 Patton Tank (named after famed World War 2 General "George S. Patton"). It was put in service in 1959 and was used in many branches of the US Military.

It had a 105 MM Gun, weighs around 50 tons, and can go at around 30 MPH speeds.

Eventually, the tank was phased out of frontline service and replaced by the M-1 Abrams but was still used by the National Guard.

However, one disgruntled man decided to take it for a drive around San Diego and the neighborhood as well as the freeway (for a short amount of time); his name was "Shawn Nelson." But what was his life was about, and what happened when he went on that rampage? This is what this page will try to cover.

## Shawn's early life

On August 21, 1959, Shawn Nelson was born in Birdseye, Utah, as he was his family's second of 3 sons. His family would soon move to San Diego, CA. While growing up, Shawn would develop a perfect relationship with his family (namely his father).

Upon graduating from high school, Shawn enlisted in the US Army, was stationed in West Germany, and served as a tank driver. He would stay there for 2 years until he was honorably discharged. Though, during his 2-year stay, he was far from being the perfect soldier as he would oftentimes get into trouble with his commanding officers.

After returning to civilian life in San Diego, Shawn would open up a plumbing business. In 1984, he would marry.

Now, you may be thinking, "Hmmm, this doesn't sound like the kind of guy who would go on a Tank Rampage."

Well, keep reading this page, and you'll find out more.

## Nelson's downward spiral

Everything seemingly was going well for Shawn. But by the latter part of the 1980s is when his downward spiral would begin. By 1987, America's economic bubble burst, and a recession began; this greatly affected Shawn's plumbing business, and eventually, his marriage.

In 1988, personal tragedy struck as Shawn's mother died.

Thus, Shawn began to develop an addiction to alcohol, which would further damage his business and his marriage.

Eventually, Shawn's Marriage will end as his wife would file for divorce in 1990.

A few months after his divorce, Shawn decided to take his motorcycle out for a drive through the Mojave Desert; he was along the desert highway until he was in an accident with his motorcycle, leaving Shawn with permanent back and neck injuries. He was treated at Sharp Memorial Hospital; Shawn would later try (and fail) to sue the Hospital for $1.6 Million on the accusation of malpractice; it's the same hospital Shawn blames for the death of his mother. The outcome is that Shawn had to pay over $6,000 in medical fees and legal reparations.

In 1992, personal tragedy would strike again as Shawn's father (with who he was very close) unexpectedly died.

This is where Shawn would go deeper and deeper into his addiction to alcohol, and he would eventually develop a drug addiction too, with Methamphetamine (BKA Crystal Meth) as his "go-to" drug of choice. His addictions would, overtime, make him especially susceptible to anger and sometimes violent. Eventually, it would make him delusional.

Along with Shawn, his plumbing business would also be on a downward spiral. With Shawn's back and neck problems, he found it difficult to work full time. But the death knell for his business is when he was working at his job in July of 1994, only to have his van and all of his plumbing equipment stolen.

With Shawn losing his job and his addictions. He didn't keep up paying the bills; eventually, San Diego would pull his utilities such as his electricity and water, and eventually foreclosed his house. This would force Shawn to move in with his girlfriend.

Then, Shawn would become more and more delirious as one day he would take a shovel and dig a hole in his girlfriend's back yard as he believed that he would find gold.

We would constantly dig in the back yard; eventually, this would worry and upset the neighbors. He would eventually dig a hole around 16 feet deep. Shawn would also have other neighbors complaining about his behavior, such as yelling at his roommate in the middle of the night. But this was a prelude to what's to come.

## The Tank Rampage

On May 17, 1995, Shawn came to a US National Guard Base not far from San Diego. Somehow, he could sneak his way through the base and come across several parked M60 Tanks.

There's one thing I forgot to mention about the M60 Tank. Unlike other tanks, the M60 didn't need a key or a special code to activate, just a touch of a button.

After trying the first 2 tanks, Shawn finally got one to turn on. He drove to the guard station at the front of the base where the guard tried (and failed) to stop Shawn from driving off with the tank; the guard quickly ran to the phone booth to call the police, notifying them that one of their tanks was stolen.

The rampage would last for around 25 minutes. But they were eventful. The San Diego Police chased the Tank down and even tried to set up roadblocks and even something called "stinger strips," which is to blow the tire of a rampaging vehicle, but they were useless since this is a tank.

Shawn did a considerable amount of damage; not only did he crush around 40 parked cars (which included an RV), he would also run over several fire hydrants, road signs, traffic lights, and some utility poles, knocking out power to 5,000 customers.

He would eventually get onto I-805 and tried (but failed) to take out a bridge, he then headed for the freeway, and the police knew that they could let him get on the freeway as he can kill a great number of motorists. The police also suggested to call the Military and bring in a helicopter armed with anti-tank missiles since the police methods were futile. Shawn would eventually reach the freeway (State Route 163).

As Shawn tried to cross onto the northbound side of the freeway, the tank got stuck on the divider that it tried to crush, and one of the tracks broke. This allowed the police to apprehend Shawn; 4 officers climbed onto the tank, one of which was named "Paul Paxton," opened the hatch with a bolt cutter, and then the officers ordered him to surrender. Still, he only responded by rocking the tank back and forth, and this is another officer named "Richard Piner" leaned into the tank and shot Shawn in the neck. Shawn was then taken out of the tank and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

## Aftermath

The news began to spread rumors of what exactly motivated Shawn to perform this wild rampage in the aftermath. First, some say Shawn had terrorist connections given his anti-government stance and him showing support for Timothy Mcveigh's Oklahoma City Bombings. Still, no evidence suggests that Shawn was connected to any terrorist network. When asked by the media, Shawn's brother, Scott, and his wife (Suzy) both said that he was a bothered and disgruntled man with many things wrong with him and with addictions.

The National Guard base also came under fire due to its security on the day of Shaen's rampage. There were many guards on duty that day, but none of them seemed to notice Shawn just wandering around the base, and none of them made an attempt to stop him. So, this remains one of the "strange stories" we can hear or read about.

Well, that'll do it for this page. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis too. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.