A small single-engine plane crashed into a seven-story office building in Austin, Texas, around 10 a.m. local time Thursday. An NTSB official told Fox News that they are investigating this as an intentional act, and said it appears the pilot set his own house on fire and then got in his plane and flew it into the building. An NTSB spokesman, however, told FoxNews.com that "we can't confirm any of that."
Rumor mill is going at high speed
An Internal Revenue Service office is located inside the building. 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, TheStatesman.com reported. "It looked like it was coming right in my window," Winnie said, according to the Web sit. Winnie said the plane veered down and smashed into the lower floors. "I didn't lose my footing, but it was enough to knock people who were sitting to the floor."
The Austin American-Statesman newspaper reported on its Web site that EMS officials have taken two patients to the hospital, and that there are several "walking wounded" at the scene. Paramedics have set up a triage center at the scene. Harry Evans, an assistant chief with the Austin Fire Department, said one person from the building was unaccounted for. "There may be other injuries, we are unsure at this time," Evans said during a news conference Thursday.
Heavy smoke could be seen coming from the building at 9420 Research Boulevard. Several local witnesses on Twitter reported seeing flames coming out of the building and lots of broken glass. Dozens of fire trucks were on scene and the building was evacuated.
Early reports that the building housed the FBI field office in Austin later turned out not to be true. An FBI spokesman told Fox News that the FBI office in Austin is near where the plane crashed, but not in the same building. There are some federal offices in the building, though authorities couldn't identify which ones.
The FBI spokesman also told Fox News that as of 10:30 a.m. local time. there was nothing to indicate that this targeted the FBI or that the crash was terrorism-related. "The building lies along a flight path," the spokesman said, so right now it looks like an "accident."
I think that is their default answer
KXAN is reporting that emergency crews are on the scene, and two people are still unaccounted for, according to fire officials. The station also reported that the collision shook the entire building, and the entire front of the structure is gone.
Have to wait and see, folks
UPDATE: AUSTIN, Texas — A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane into an office building that houses federal tax employees in Austin, Texas on Thursday, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing as thick plumes of black smoke poured into the air.
A U.S. law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack and said investigators were looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him. The Web site outlines problems with the IRS and says violence "is the only answer."
I glanced at it. Looong rant, hates the IRS, his CPA, George Bush and his wife. His own wife, not Laura. I think.
Federal law enforcement officials have said they were investigating whether the pilot crashed on purpose in an effort to blow up IRS offices. The Web site featured a long note dated Thursday denouncing the government and the IRS in particular and cited the Austin man's problems with the agency. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. |