UPDATE: A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane Thursday into an office building in Austin, Texas, that houses federal tax employees, setting off a raging fire.
Officials are investigating whether the pilot, identified by authorities as Joseph Andrew Stack, a 53-year-old software engineer who lived in Texas, crashed the plane intentionally. Stack was confirmed dead.
An Internal Revenue Service office is located inside the building. About 190 IRS employees work in the building, and IRS spokesman Richard C. Sanford said the agency is trying to account for all of its workers.
Source – Fox News – Watch Live Video
UPDATE: CNN is quoting a federal official who says that an airplane that hit a seven-story building in Austin was deliberately crashed. Not only that — the plane was stolen, and the pilot had set his own house on fire before taking flight, the channel reports.
1:19 p.m.: FAA officials tell CNN the plane was a Piper Cherokee PA-28.
1:18 p.m.: A federal law enforcement official tells CNN that they believe the plane belonged to Joseph Andrew Stack.
12:49 p.m.: The Internal Revenue Service in Dallas, Texas, told CNN that the building is a federal IRS outsourced building. It said 199 of its employees work there. The IRS said it thinks all employees are accounted for, but they are checking.
12:42 p.m.: The pilot of the plane had set his house on fire beforehand, stole the plane and crashed it intentionally, a federal official told CNN.
12:40 p.m.: Federal officials said two F-16 fighter jets were launched as a precaution after the crash, though terrorist intent was not indicated.
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Authorities are investigating a reported plane crash into a seven-story office building in the 9400 block of Research Boulevard, according to Austin fire officials. No other information is immediately available.
See live streaming video of the plane crash at Statesman traffic camera:
From The Start TelegramThe seven-story office building, described as the Echelon building, is in the 9400 block of Research Boulevard, according to Austin fire officials. The site is near U.S. 183 and MoPac.The FBI said there is nothing at this point that indicates that the crash is anything more than an accident at this time.
Initial reports were that the Austin field office of the San Antonio FBI were in the building, but it was later learned that the FBI offices are in a nearby building.
Reports thepilot burned his own house then flew his plane into building
NTSB now says it may have been intentionally set – pilot set home on fire before taking off. More to come…
If the plane legally belonged to Stack how could he have stolen it?