At dusk of Wednesday, May 17, 1995 Tank driver, Shawn Nelson, drove his car to the National Guard Armory in Kearny Mesa. After crossing a fence, and several attempts, he finally used a crowbar to break into a M-60 Patton (57 ton) tank. He was then noticed by a Guardsman, but was not stopped in time. The chace ends when Officer Paul Paxton, a sergeant major in the Marine Reserves, cut open the hatch with bolt cutters. The officers ordered Nelson to surrender, but he said nothing and began lurching the tank back and forth in attempt to free it from the median. Afraid Nelson would free the tank and that the four officers would be thrown off, one of them fatally shot him