Pilot 'crashed plane over tax row'

Smoke rises from a building in Austin, Texas after it was hit by a small aircraft (AP)
12 April 2012

A software engineer believed to be furious with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has crashed his small plane into an office building housing nearly 200 federal tax employees.

The crash in Austin, Texas, set off a raging fire which killed two people and sent workers fleeing as thick plumes of black smoke poured into the air.

A US law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack and said investigators were looking at an anti-government message posted on the internet and linked to him. The website outlined problems with the IRS and said violence "is the only answer".

Emergency crews said they had found two bodies in the wreckage.

Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Palmer Buck said authorities "have now accounted for everybody", but declined to discuss the identities of those found.

Federal law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether the pilot, who is presumed to have died in the crash, slammed into the building on purpose in an effort to blow up IRS offices.

"Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer," the long note on Stack's website read, 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 read.

About 190 IRS employees work in the building, and IRS spokesman Richard C Sanford said the agency was trying to account for all of its staff.

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 floors hours later as fire crews battled the blaze.

In a neighbourhood about six miles from the crash site, a home listed as belonging to Stack was on fire earlier. Two law enforcement officials said Stack had apparently set fire to his home before the suicidal plane flight.

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