Texas Plane Crash SLIDESHOW and INTERACTIVE TIMELINE
OGDEN -- Some Internal Revenue Service employees in Ogden are expressing concern for their safety after a man apparently intentionally flew his single-engine plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas, causing heavy damage and injuring at least two people.
"You are not safe," said a woman who works in an IRS building at 23rd Street and Wall Avenue but declined to give her name.
"Anybody can get you."
Another IRS employee who works in the same Ogden building described the actions of the pilot in the Texas incident, identified as Joe Stack, 53, of Austin, as "pretty sick" but unpreventable.
"It could happen anywhere," the man said. "A lot of people don't like the federal government."
Quentin Watkins, another downtown IRS employee, said he isn't overly concerned because it appears the apparent sabotage in Austin is an isolated incident.
However, another woman who works in the IRS building at 23rd and Wall, said she worries about similar attacks because the building is several stories high.
The IRS has 11 buildings and about 6,300 employees in the Ogden area.
Bill Brunson, a spokesman for the IRS, declined to comment on any security measures put into place at the buildings in the wake of the Austin incident.
Patti Stewart, who works for the IRS Exempt Organizations Compliance Area in Ogden, said the Texas incident is shocking but that she and fellow employees are well-prepared for various emergency scenarios.
At least twice a year, IRS employees undergo "shelter in place" training that teaches them to move away from windows and get to a safe place in the building where they work in the event of an emergency, Stewart said.
"Because we work for the IRS, we never feel totally secure, just because of the nature of the business," she said. "But because we do these exercises, it prepares us for emergencies."
IRS workers in Austin had no time to prepare before the Piper PA-28-236 registered to Stack slammed into their building Thursday morning.
Authorities believe Stack set his home ablaze before taking off from a Georgetown, Texas, airport about 25 miles from Austin.
In addition, they have obtained a rambling, obscenity-laced suicide note posted online that is believed to have been written by Stack.
"I remember reading about the stock market crash before the 'great' depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything," according to the online note, dated Feb. 18, 2010, and signed "Joe Stack, (1956-2010)."
"Isn't it ironic how far we've come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn't have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it's 'business-as-usual.'
"Now when the wealthy f
up, the poor get to die for the mistakes ... isn't that a clever, tidy solution."
Stack, who is presumed dead, described himself in the note as a software engineer and blamed the government, the IRS and accountants for his business problems.
Violence, he wrote, "not only is the answer, it is the only answer."
At least two people were taken to the hospital from the burning building, and officials were looking for one other person who was unaccounted for.
Thick black and gray smoke was billowing out of the second and third stories of the building Thursday as fire crews using ladder trucks and hoses battled the fire. Dozens of windows were blown out of the hulking black building, and drivers traveling on a nearby highway paused to look.
Greg Miller, vice president of investments for CWS Capital Partners in Austin, was driving to his office just down the street from the IRS building Thursday morning when he saw smoke and pulled out his video camera.
"It was crazy," Miller told the Standard-Examiner. "I was thinking, 'What the heck is going on?' I thought maybe it was just a building fire or something. I just pulled over and started to video. Then later, we started to hear what had happened. Of course, then all the crazy conspiracy theories started to race."
There is no way to prevent incidents like the one in Austin because private pilots are free to come and go at municipal airports across the country, said Ed Rich, manager of the Ogden-Hinckley Airport.
"The only way that (preventing similar incidents) could possibly happen is if you outlaw airplanes and, after they take off, shoot them down," he said.
Ogden-Hinckley Airport has about 350 general aviation aircraft that are kept primarily in private hangars.
Rich said the flight approach to the airport's Runway 21 passes over IRS buildings and several municipal structures downtown.
Information from Standard- Examiner wire services is included in this article.
Updated 11:05 p.m.
Man angry at IRS crashes plane into building
The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas -- A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service launched a suicide attack on the agency Thursday by crashing his small plane into an office building containing nearly 200 IRS employees, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing for their lives.
At least one person in the building was missing.
A federal law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack and said investigators were looking at a long anti-government screed and farewell note that he apparently posted on the Web earlier in the day as an explanation for what he was about to do.
In it, the author cited run-ins with the IRS and ranted about the tax agency, government bailouts and corporate America's "thugs and plunderers."
"I have had all I can stand," he wrote in the note, dated Thursday, adding: "I choose not to keep looking over my shoulder at 'big brother' while he strips my carcass."
Stack, 53, also apparently set fire to his house about six miles from the crash site before embarking on the suicide flight, said two law enforcement officials, who like other authorities spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still going on.
The pilot took off in a single-engine Piper Cherokee from an airport in Georgetown, about 30 miles from Austin, without filing a flight plan. He flew low over the Austin skyline before plowing into the side the hulking, seven-story, black-glass building just before 10 a.m. with a thunderous explosion that instantly stirred memories of Sept. 11.
Flames shot from the building, windows exploded, a huge pillar of black smoke rose over the city and terrified workers scrambled to safety.
The Pentagon scrambled two F-16 fighter jets from Houston to patrol the skies over the burning building before it became clear that it was the act of a lone pilot, and President Barack Obama was briefed on the crash.
"It felt like a bomb blew off," said Peggy Walker, an IRS revenue officer who was sitting at her desk. "The ceiling caved in and windows blew in. We got up and ran."
Stack was presumed dead. At least one person who worked in the building was unaccounted for and two people were hospitalized, fire officials said. About 190 IRS employees work in the building.
Gerry Cullen was eating breakfast at a restaurant across the street when the plane struck the building and "vanished in a fireball."
Matt Farney, who was in the parking lot of a nearby Home Depot, said he saw a low-flying plane near some apartments and the office building just before it crashed.
"I figured he was going to buzz the apartments or he was showing off," Farney said. "It was insane. It didn't look like he was out of control or anything."
Sitting at her desk in another building a half-mile from the crash, Michelle Santibanez said she felt vibrations from the crash. She and her co-workers ran to the windows, where they witnessed a scene that reminded them of 9/11, she said.
"It was the same kind of scenario, with window panels falling out and desks falling out and paperwork flying," said Santibanez, an accountant.
The building, situated in a heavily congested section of Austin, was still smoldering six hours after the crash, with much of the damage on the second and third floors.
The entire outside of the second floor was gone on the side of the building where the plane hit. Support beams were bent inward. Venetian blinds dangled from blown-out windows, and large sections of the exterior were blackened with soot.
Andrew Jacobson, an IRS revenue officer who was on the second floor when the plane hit with a "big whoomp" and then a second explosion, said about six people couldn't use the stairwell because of smoke and debris. He found a metal bar to break a window so the group could crawl out onto a concrete ledge, where they were rescued by firefighters. His bloody hands were bandaged.
The FBI was investigating. The National Transportation Safety Board sent an investigator as well.
In the long, rambling, self-described "rant" that Stack apparently posted on the Internet, he began: "If you're reading this, you're no doubt asking yourself, 'Why did this have to happen?"'
He detailed his financial reverses, his difficulty finding work in Austin, and at least two clashes with the IRS, one of them after he filed no return because, he said, he had no income, the other after he failed to report his wife Sheryl's income.
He railed against politicians, the Catholic Church, the "unthinkable atrocities" committed by big business, and the government bailouts that followed. He said he slowly came to the conclusion that "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," he wrote.
According to California state records, Stack had a troubled business history, twice starting software companies in California that ultimately were suspended by the state's tax board, one of them in the late 1980s, the other in 2001.
The blaze at Stack's home, a red-brick house on a tree-lined street in a middle-class neighborhood, caved in the roof and blew out the windows. Elbert Hutchins, who lives one house away, said the house caught fire about 9:15 a.m. He said a woman and her teenage daughter drove up to the house before firefighters arrived.
"They both were very, very distraught," said Hutchins, a retiree who said he didn't know the family well. "'That's our house!' they cried. 'That's our house!"'
Red Cross spokeswoman Marty McKellips said the agency was treating two people who live in the house.
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Associated Press writers April Castro and Jay Root in Austin; Devlin Barrett, Lolita C. Baldor and Joan Lowy in Washington, Melanie Coffee in Chicago and the AP News Research Center contributed to this report.
Updated 3:14 p.m.
Official: Plane crash pilot left anti-IRS Web note
AUSTIN, Texas -- A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service plowed his small plane into an office building housing nearly 200 federal tax employees on Thursday, officials said, 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."
Federal law enforcement officials have said they were investigating whether the pilot, who is presumed to have died in the crash, slammed into the Austin building on purpose in an effort to blow up IRS offices. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
"Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer," the long note on Stack's Web site reads, citing past problems with the tax-collecting agency.
"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 Thursday, reads.
At least one person who worked in the building was unaccounted for and two people were hospitalized, said Austin Fire Department Division Chief Dawn Clopton. She did not have any information about the pilot. About 190 IRS employees work in the building, and IRS spokesman Richard C. Sanford the agency is trying to account for all of its workers.
After the low-flying plane crashed into the building, flames shot out, windows exploded and workers scrambled to safety. Thick smoke billowed out of the second and third stories hours later as fire crews battled the blaze.
"It felt like a bomb blew off," said Peggy Walker, an IRS revenue officer who was sitting at her desk in the building when the plane crashed. "The ceiling caved in and windows blew in. We got up and ran."
In a neighborhood about six miles from the crash site, a home listed as belonging to Stack was on fire earlier Thursday. Two law enforcement officials said Stack had apparently set fire to his home before the suicidal plane flight.
Elbert Hutchins, who lives one house away from the house on a quiet, tree-lined middle class neighborhood, said the house caught fire about 9:15 a.m. He said a woman and her teenage daughter drove up to the house before firefighters arrived.
"They both were very, very distraught," said Hutchins, a retiree who said he didn't know the family well. "'That's our house!' they cried 'That's our house!' "
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the agency confirmed the plane took off from an airport in Georgetown, Texas, and the pilot didn't file a flight plan. Lunsford said initially the plane was identified as a Cirrus SR22 but later said it might be a Piper Cherokee.
Gerry Cullen, 66, was eating breakfast a restaurant across the street when the plane struck the building.
"The airplane hit and vanished in a fireball," said Cullen, a former flight instructor.
Matt Farney, 39, who was in the parking lot of a nearby Home Depot, said he saw a low-flying small plane near some apartments and the office building just before it crashed.
"I figured he was going to buzz the apartments or he was showing off," Farney said. "It was insane. ... It didn't look like he was out of control or anything."
Sitting at her desk in another building about a half-mile from the crash, Michelle Santibanez said she felt vibrations after the crash. She and her co-workers ran to the windows, where they saw a scene that reminded them of the 9/11 attacks, she said.
"It was the same kind of scenario with window panels falling out and desks falling out and paperwork flying," said Santibanez, an accountant.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said an investigator from the board's Dallas office has been dispatched to the scene of the accident to start an investigation. The FAA and NTSB officials said they had no information on whether the crash was intentional. The White House also said President Barack Obama was briefed about the crash.
As a precaution, the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command launched two F-16 aircraft from Houston's Ellington Field, and is conducting an air patrol over the crash area.
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