1995 San Diego tank rampage

For legal culpability, the California Guard was found to be negligent and therefore responsible. The state paid out a total of US$149,201 (equivalent to $257,786 in 2021): $10,000 (equivalent to $17,278 in 2021) to Pacific Bell, $12,500 (equivalent to $21,597 in 2021) to the city of San Diego, $40,965.69 (equivalent to $70,779 in 2021) to San Diego Gas & Electric, and the rest to individual citizens (mostly for damage to vehicles).

By November 1996, the Guard had improved security and awareness at its armories, and moved all its tanks to either Fort Irwin or Camp Roberts.

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

Nelson was a native Californian and United States Army veteran with unusual habits that drew the attention of his neighbors. In late spring 1995, the 35-year-old had recently suffered financial, professional, and interpersonal setbacks, some of which stemmed from long-term substance abuse.

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-foot (6.1 m) 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 long struggled with alcohol abuse and methamphetamines, a factor in his wife leaving in 1991. Nelson's van and plumbing tools were stolen in June 1994, and his contracting business declined. 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".

A patient at Sharp Memorial Hospital in 1990, Nelson later sued the hospital over a fight involving an emergency room security guard. 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 1978, Nelson enlisted in the United States Army. 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.

Born on August 21, 1959 in California, Shawn Timothy Nelson was the second of Betty and Fred Nelson's three sons. He grew up in Clairemont, San Diego, where he attended James Madison High School. He later married Suzy Hellman in 1984.