By Jack Lepiarz -- February 18, 2010
A man flew a plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas on Thursday morning, after leaving a suicide note online, authorities say. Still, Dept. of Homeland Security officials are describing the event as an "isolated incident," and Austin police officials have stressed, "there is no cause for alarm."
Police officials have identified the pilot as Joseph Andrew Stack, an Austin resident, whose suicide post blasts the IRS as "sleazy" and calls the government "Big Brother," a reference to the authoritarian government described in George Orwell's "1984."
The note was taken down five hours after the crash though it still lists a link to another site hosting the letter, as well as an explanation.
"This website has been taken offline due to the sensitive nature of the events that transpired in Texas this morning and in compliance with a request from the FBI," the site now reads.
Read Stack's suicide note here.
IRS officials say about 190 employees work in the Echelon Building, where the plane struck, and that its immediate concern was trying to account for all of those workers.
Austin city spokeswoman Samantha Park said police had deemed the building stable enough to continue the search for those missing. Latest reports still listed at least one employee unaccounted for.
Authorities say a home six miles from the crash site listed as belonging to Stack was also set on fire early this morning. A neighbor rescued his wife and 12-year-old daughter.
Stack was an experienced pilot who owned his own plane, neighbors told MyFoxAustin.com.
The IRS has offered little feedback in response to the incident, but a spokesperson in Boston did say, "We are still in the process of accounting for all of our employees. We will be providing more updates as more information becomes available."
