“911 what’s your emergency?” “Somebody stole a tank”

GTA in game: Dies when entering the military base GTA in real life: Lazy soldiers didn't notice the dude was coming

*Guard* : "Hello 911?" *Operator* : "What's the nature of your emergency?" *Guard* :"I'd like to report a stolen vehicle." *Operator* : "What's the make and model?" *Guard* :"It's a green M60A3 Patton tank." *Operator* : "....."

Imagine calling your car insurance "hi my car got run over by a tank"

Guard 1: Who's that guy? Guard 2: I don't know ... Guard 1: So anyway, on Seinfeld last night...

"Hello police, this is the US Army, we need your help, our tank has been stolen"...... Bet the operator was questioning if this was real

This is a cautionary tale. When someone loses everything, they can do anything.

This is the same incident that convinced my parents to support Dad's newly discharged high school best friend when they learned from his mother that he was going through a rough time. He wasn't addicted to drugs or alcoholic, but the depression he had was severe. For all the trouble Shawn Nelson caused, he really opened the eyes to a lot of people the need to support people with depression, especially among veterans and their dishonorably discharged counterparts.

Soldier "What do we do?" Other soldier "Call the police!"

Why steal one when you can make one? *Killdozer intensifies*

Poor dude. His life was going so well then it just fell apart completely.

"When man has nothing to lose, they have everything to gain." -Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

Once he died the last thing he saw was in big red letters “WASTED”

Rockstar: Doesn't launch GTA VI Shawn Nelson: Fine, I'll do it myself.

"so what's the emergency?" "Weather's great actually" "Sir, what's the emergency" *"My neighbor has a tank"*

I was 18 when this happened, I remember watching this live on tv

"He even dug a 7 feet shaft in his backyard" Who didn't tell this guy not to dig straight down? You could Fall into lava or abandoned Radioactive waste.

This is a strange rethinking of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. “The first tank had no fuel, the second tank wouldn’t start, the third tank was just right!”

The reason why he wasn't stopped on base I suspect is because he was a former soldier. Anyone who has served will tell you that you can pick out others who have served by how they move and present themselves. My guess is they saw him and knew he served and must of had a reason to be there. There are actually rules that say you have to wear your uniform while on duty and civilian clothes when off duty on base especially over seas. His service allowed him to be camouflaged as a service member off duty on the base, thats at least what I believe.

I was in my early 20’s when this happened. Wasn’t the tank driver disgruntled towards his VA treatment or benefits. He was driving the tank to the VA building in Mission Valley.

"when a man can't find reasons to live, he starts looking for reasons to die"

This guy literally lost everything he had. Kind of sad story...

Old people: "The good ol days when we used to play grand theft auto in real life"

The tank was stolen from the National Guard Armory next door to my High School in the Linda Vista neighborhood of San Diego. That's about 10 miles from downtown, contrary to what the video says.

A sad tale of a man who was left alone in a world that doesn’t care about him, when you’ve got nothing to live for, why not make the end entertaining?

This dude played GTA in real life before it exist

That’s actually a very deep video from this channel! We should really pay attention to history , so we will never repeat it again

You also ended up with one of the most odd insurance claims for the vehicles. Can you imagine if they just had one payment to go on the car. I remember seeing it on my tv back then and being glad nobody was hurt or in the car when hit

Soldiers: what are you doing? Nelson: driving a tank Soldiers: UnDErStandeble HaVe a NIce day

“He is in a vehicle” “Make and colour?” “It’s a black...tank”

Everyone gangsta until some crazy random person with a tank shows up.

I seen the camera footage of the tank driving down the street for the first time tonight, wanted to know more about it. What a sad story wish I didn’t look into it any more.

Nelson: Goes in the military base and tries to start the tanks. Guards: “nah you cool”

Reminds me of: "Drunk Polish man captures Polish town with old Soviet tank"

"911 what can i help you" "hmmm, our tank has been stolen"

Who needs magella? You explain history better than anyone ive seen, much better than the history channel.

"I've got nothing left to lose but my sanity, and the right to go insane."

"-Shoot at the tires, Eddie! -Eeeer, it's a tank, sir..."

To be honest I really feel sorry for the guy with most people in his life abandoning him

me when i had to speak in front of the class: 5:30

Imagine this scenario “911 what’s your emergency?” “This is the national guard, one of our M60 Pattons have been stolen” “And we are going to stop it how?” “Ramming it off the road”

National Guard soldiers: bruh were gonna get court martialed

As someone who works for police, I can only imagine dispatch receiving call from military about stolen vehicle and then giving information to patrols, that it is a tank.

I only heard about this today. Thank you for animating and telling the story.

The animators must’ve had fun making this. I laughed way too hard at the scene of dude running through the base

*Person steals a tank and goes on a rampage in 1995* Rockstar games: *"WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN"*

I loved this whole experience. Lived in San Diego at the time in those neighborhoods my uncles friends RV was the one taken out. Across the street from that RV is a school. This was crazy. Story was guy lost everything. He was on his way to downtown SD to the court house with that tank.

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!

His backstory sounds like it can be a Joker story. The cartoon version of him looks like Joaquin Phoenix

I can't help but feel empathy for the guy. He got screwed over COMPLETELY by life.

The SDPD officer that gained access to the tank was a SSgt who was a reserve at 4th Tank Bn. His dad retired from the Marines as a SgtMaj and very respected man.

I hear this was an alias. I hear he had an original name: Trevor.

"this kind of tank don't require any kind of keys" so star wars ships ARE realistic after all

9:03 wasted

“Hey Shawn did you hear a tank was on the rampage?” “Yeah it’s on the news.” “Want me to head to your basement to stay safe?” “Yeah you’re just five streets away from me. Quickly get here before the tank gets here.” *sees Shawn turn the corner in the M60 with several cop cars on him*

“Hi yeah, does my insurance cover my car being crushed by a tank?” “I beg your pardon?!” “Does my insurance cover tank damage?”

Nelson: Getting in a Tank Bob: Should we stop him? Joe: Nah, Let him play GTA

Tanks for the vid

Normal crinals: steals car Nelson: hold my beer * steals an entire tank*

Plot twist: This was sponsored by Rockstar Games to advertise GTA

Anything planned for the 1992 Los Santos Riots? I heard a guy crashed a firetruck off a bridge

2:33 He recreated that woman with the blue shirt pretty accurately LMAO

Kids never steal a tank like him or you will get a 5 star Someone: *steals tank* Police: here we go again

Killdozer: “Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be legendary.”

Driver: Intoxicated and drugged Gunner: Nope Loader: Nope Commander: Nope Radio Operator: Nope Still capable of causing destruction Sounds like the opposite in World of Tanks

What they are not mentioning here, whether purposely or not, is that during the struggle with the tank when it was caught on the freeway they actually had an off duty tank engineer with them. He was the one who pointed out where to get in and he was also the one who volunteered to go into the tank and get Sean out of there without killing him. During the stand still there was a police officer who was acting somewhat jittery and wasn’t responding to the engineer. If you watch the news report during the stand off you can see the engineer repeatedly tap the officer on the shoulder, trying to get his attention. When they were finally able to open the hatch the panicked officer fired into the opening without provocation or warning, killing Sean within seconds. This isn’t to knock the officer, even though it might have been hasty or unwarranted, it actually pointed out how seriously unprepared these officers were for a situation like this. It even highlights how completely disassociated the American public when it came to their understanding of how truly unstoppable these machines were, or how devastating just ONE of these vehicles could be. It could also be argued that this was an indicator of how even just 30 years ago the mental health of an an American citizen going through a crisis was simply viewed as a drug addicted crazy person. Who knows, if we had some system in place that truly cared about this man’s well being, or if the officers were trained to deal with situations like this more calmly and logically, he would still be here, talking about that one time he took a tank for a joy ride.

I remember this happening. Really sad that he was pushed off the edge like that. Not an excuse just sad 😭

Not long before it gets to a Bridge and starts to fly. That's when you should panic.

Whoever was on guard duty did not have a good day after this I'm sure.

"yo so my car got ran over by a tank" "cap" "no seriously" "cap" "I SWEAR IT DID LEMME SEND YOU A PHOTO" "nah you're lying" "HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

*DarkViperAU:* _"So here at the beginning of the _*_Crystal Maze_*_ there is a feature where you can get into Fort Zancudo without getting any wanted levels. This allows you to steal a tank for free from the base, and also get the minigun from the watchtower for future missions."_

7:27 "Setting up road blocks is pointless" GTA cops: *Hold my beer*

Police Car: *Exists* Guy Inside Tank: Now This Is *GTA*

Dude, the machinegun and firing mechanism of the smooth bore rifle are store in the units arms room. The ammo is stored at an active posts AHA or Ammo Holding Area. They bring ammo to you at a range when you request it. So you will not steal a tank and be able to use the weapons on them. Though the tank itself is really a huge weapon in itself. The only keys for any military vehicle are the ones locking the outer hatches on armored vehicles and the un armored vehicles have a cable running through the driver's wheel, making it unstearable. There are no ignition keys. You just turn a dial.

I’ve watched this story like 6 times on different channels but it’s so good.

Imagine in like few months "911 what's your emergency" "This is the Air Force, yeah someone just stoled a B-2 Spirit, yeah we need a police helicopter"

I thought Trevor from GTA 5 was a FICTIONAL character.

I love the call back to old school GTA with the top down view, Very nostalgic

Me: clicks on a video about a tank World Of Tanks ad: hello there

Yo this kinda sounds like a backstory of a GTA V character,

This sounds like Trevor...

I remember this when I was a kid, I lived in San Diego at that time and watched it on the news

Even tho the story is VERY different, this video's name reminds me of one Adventures of Tintin episode where Tintin and captain Haddock stole a tank.

"Wait a minute, I thought the army parade was in august?"

When you finally get into the military base in GTA V

Wait this just bring me back memories from 2007

More videos like this one please

"Florida man moves to California"

"He'd help anybody. He just couldn't help himself. " -His brother, Scott,

2:44 damn, a red lancia delta integrale on the left, not many of those in San Diego or the US in general

San Diego Police Officer: San Diego Police Department. National Guardsman: Hi, I’m calling from the California National Guard Armory to report a stolen vehicle. San Diego Police Officer: Name of vehicle? National Guardsman: An M60 tank. San Diego Police Officer: I’m sorry, did you just say “a tank”?! National Guardsman: Yes.

7:53 The US military is so advanced that they developed an AH-1 Cobra that doesn't need a tail rotor to move

"Nelson then got lucky when the third tank started up" You know what they say, third times a charm

Real Life GTA 9:44

It's odd that they went straight to asking for an AH-1 Cobra chopper, but didn't think of using i.e. an M136 AT4? I mean, a few of those could probably be found at the same base the tank was stolen from. Probably laying around amid beer crates, considering the level of discipline that base apparently had.

Farmers: “We know a thing or two, because we have seen a thing or two!” (I can imagine this had a bunch of insurance agents scratching their heads, reading the fine print in their insurance policies). Edit. We are Farmers, bum bum bumbum bum...thanks for the likes!

I like how there's a five star and the font style is GTA: SA

Nelson: steals a tank. Marvin: makes a tank .

Nelson: it cannot be that easy Also nelson: it was that easy

Police dispatcher: “911 what’s your emergency?” Guard: “this is the national guard we just had one of tanks stolen from us!” Police dispatcher: “what?!” The guards’ commanding officer: “WHAT?!?!”