The pilot, Joe Stack, posted a suicide note online, ranting about the IRS
The pilot, Joe Stack, posted a suicide note online, ranting about the IRS
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The pilot, identified as Joseph Andrew Stack, a 53-year-old software engineer who lived in the state of Texas, was confirmed dead.
Stack posted a suicide note to a social media website, ranting against the IRS. "If you're reading this, you're no doubt asking yourself, "Why did this have to happen?" the note read. "The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time...
"Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer...
"I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well," the note dated.
Stack took off in his own Piper Cherokee at 9.40 am (local time)and didn't file a flight plan.
About 190 IRS employees work in the seven-storey building, and IRS spokesman Richard Sanford said the agency was trying to account for all of its workers.
IRS Agent William Winnie said he was on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming towards the building. "It looked like it was coming right in my window," Winnie said.
Winnie said the plane veered down and smashed into the lower floors.
| Crash pilot called "easy going" | |
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Joe Stack was even-tempered and unflappable, said a woman who knew him. Stack, who used to play in a band, was described as "easy going" by the band's manager. "He talked politics like everyone, but didn't show any obsession," said Pam Parker, the wife of the band manager. | |
Stuart Newberg, who was in the area before the crash, said the plane was flying low and fast. "It was flying low and fast and I did a double take," Newberg said. "I thought it was a play remote-controlled plane. Then I saw the smoke." He said he thought the plane seemed "very controlled."
Harry Evans, an assistant chief with the Austin Fire Department, said one person was unaccounted for, while two people had been taken to a hospital. "There may be other injuries," said Evans.
Dozens of fire trucks were on scene and the building was evacuated. The office fire was contained soon.
Set home on fire
Meanwhile, it also emerged that Stack had set fire to his home before the flight.
Neighbors said they heard a loud explosion right before the house became engulfed in flames. A 12-year-old girl and a woman, reportedly Stack's stepdaughter and wife, were rescued from the house. A neighbor said Stack was an experienced pilot.u00a0
The single-engine private plane, reportedly flown by a suicidal pilot, crashedu00a0on Thursday into a seven-storey building complex housing the offices of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) injuring two people, media reports said.
The pilot was killed while two people were injured and one person was unaccounted for in the crash that federal officials said they had no reason to suspect was terrorism related, ABC news reported.
Federal authorities were investigating an online note reportedly written by 53-year-old software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack, the man identified by authorities as the pilot of the plane, in which he appears to have taken the responsibility for the attack on the IRS.
The note titled "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS Man ? Take my pound of flesh and sleep well" was signed "Joe Stack (1956-2010)", the report said.
"I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at 'big brother' while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won't continue; I have just had enough," the note reads.
Hours after posting the note, Stack set fire to his home, drove to a municipal airport, took-off in his single-engine Piper Cherokee aircraft and crashed it into the multi-storey office building, MSNBC reported quoting authorities.
The plane hit the side of the building between its first and second floor where the office of the IRS is located. A spokesman for the IRS said 190 people worked in the attacked office and it was "in the process of accounting for all of our employees".
The US Department of Homeland Security officials said they did not believe the crash was an act of terrorism.
"We do not yet know the cause of the plane crash. At this time, we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity," Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler told ABC News.
Chandler said two F-16 jets were sent from Houston to patrol over Austin as a precaution after the crash.
Witnesses said the pilot appeared to be in control of the plane moments before the crash.
"It hit it and the strange thing was the engine seemed to me to running at full power. It didn't seem like the plane was in trouble. It was going full blast. It's not a very fast airplane, but this thing was really moving fast," the ABC report quoted a witness as saying.
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