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Stack, who moved to Austin from California a few years ago, complained he could not make a living with his software company, Embedded Arts.
Around 8 a.m., Stack's house in North Austin was set ablaze, officials said.
A neighbor rescued his wife, classical pianist Sheryl Housh Stack, a teaching assistant at the University of Texas, and her 12-year-old daughter, Margaux, according to KXAN-TV.
Other reports said the wife and daughter arrived home after spending the night in a hotel to find the house burning.
Update: CNN reports that a federal official claims the pilot had set his house on fire beforehand, stole the plane and crashed it intentionally. The FAA said the plane departed Georgetown Municipal Airport, north of Austin, about 9:40 a.m., and that the pilot did not file a flight plan.
Joe Stack, who owned a small plane, was missing…
The four-seat single-engine Piper Cherokee came in low, nearly hitting power lines, and was roaring at full throttle on impact, the witnesses said.
The tail number matched Stack’s plane, officials said.
Remarkably, though the plane hit a seven-story office building just before 10 a.m., sparking a 50-foot fireball and breaking most of the windows, only two people were injured.
AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) – Austin fire officials say one person’s unaccounted for after a small plane crashed into an building that houses offices of the Internal Revenue Service. According to CNN, The pilot of the plane had set his house on fire beforehand, stole the plane and crashed it intentionally, a federal official told CNN.
The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting to CNN that the plane departed Georgetown airport north of Austin about 9:40 a.m. and was a Cirrus SR 22. The pilot evidently did not file a flight plan, according to reports. No flight plan is required because it is a VFR (visual flight rules) day, meaning clear weather.
An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed [no mention of stole] a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.
Federal authorities identified the pilot of the Piper Cherokee PA-28 as Joseph Andrew Stack, 53.
Why burn that house down?
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Originally posted by cjcord
I am not one to dismiss the possibility of anything being suspicious. But i had some of these questions myself, and feel I should address them here, as they may prove to be actual reasons, or reasons given.
1. He may have had the plane for some time. He may have held on to it as an asset-- just in case.
2. Perhaps after this recent issue with the audit, he found out his assets would be seized. House, plane, vehicles, everything.
That would be reason to snap. Add to that his prior issues with ...well, everything- and that could add up to someone thinking
" You're gonna take my house? Here, come get the ashes. You're gonna take my plane? Here ya go, it's yours."
At least, that would be how I would self rationalize it.
ETA:
I personally believe the reports given earlier re: fighting with his wife the night before, and she and the daughter went to a motel.
I think he lit up the house as a "take that b**ches" move, not an intent to harm his family.
[edit on 18-2-2010 by cjcord]
Originally posted by GeechQuestInfo
He finished the note at 12:42 am but in the first paragraph he talks how this has been going on fr months. I took this as he has been writing the note for months. Doesn't mean he posted it right away.
The occam's razor arguement would seem to me that he acted alone and news reports are contradicting each other because of mass shock an confusion going on since this is pretty recent. As in 8 hours ago.
I will beleive inside job if the building collapses in it's own footprint, until then it's wild speculation.