Plane crashes into Northwest Austin building

A small single-engine plane crashed into a building in Northwest Austin Thursday morning, sparking a massive fire and forcing evacuations.

The crash happened near MoPac and Highway 183 just before 10 a.m.

Smoke could be seen pouring from a building in the Echelon complex -- Echelon 3 -- on traffic cameras and in video and photographs send in by KVUE viewers and reporters.

KVUE’s Noelle Newton reported most of the windows are blown out. People were evacuated and standing along roads outside the complex. A witness told KVUE that it didn't appear the plane was having any trouble before it crashed, but it was flying very low.

Some witnesses reported that they thought the plane was headed for their building. Witnesses say the impact felt like an explosion.

Austin fire officials say one person is unaccounted for. Fire officials said they were conducting an office-to-office search. The building houses offices of the Internal Revenue Service.

Assistant Austin Fire Chief Harry Evans says two people have also been taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.

U.S. law enforcement officials say they are investigating whether the crash may have been an intentional act by the pilot.

The officials said authorities are trying to determine if the pilot intentionally targeted nearby office space of the Internal Revenue Service. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. A third official said authorities are pursuing reports that the pilot may have been disgruntled with the IRS.

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.

The IRS said in a statement that the small plane struck its Austin offices, where 190 of the agency's employees work. Officials say they are still trying to account for all the workers.

Georgetown airport officials say federal officials have sealed the airport. The pilot may have stored his plane in one of the hangars.

A federal law enforcement official has identified the pilot in the plane crash as Joseph Stack, a software developer, and says investigators are looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him.

The official said authorities are looking for a motive at Stack's company Web site. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an investigation still in progress.

The Web site featured a long note dated Thursday denouncing the government and the IRS in particular. It cited the man's problems with the agency.

The long note dated today on Stack's Web site says "Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer" to his past problems with the IRS.

It also says, "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 letter was removed from the cite. A message cites a request from the FBI as part of the reason for removing the letter.

KVUE News covered a house fire near Metric and Parmer that was reported just two hours before the plane crash. The house, which neighbors said belonged to Stack, appeared to be destroyed.

Documents from the FAA also show the plane was registered to Stack.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo cautioned that the reports are hearsay and the investigation is preliminary. He said the plane was not stolen and the crash was not an act of terrorism. Mayor Lee Leffingwell said the situation was contained.

Traffic in the area is being diverted. Power is out in the area. Austin firefighters say the power was shut off in order to fight the fire. Crews were still fighting to put out the fire, but officials said they were fighting the flames offensively, but were pulled back out of fear the building could collapse. It was unclear when the power would be restored and roads reopened.

The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to investigate.

The White House says President Barack Obama has been briefed about the crash.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president was briefed by counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan shortly before leaving the White House for a trip to Colorado and Nevada. Gibbs says the Department of Homeland Security is investigating all angles of the crash and its cause.

Gov. Rick Perry says with information still "flowing in," he's cautious to relay details he's been told about the crash of a small plane into an Austin office building.

Perry told reporters Thursday in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land that he's hearing "a lot of different story lines" and that Texas law enforcement authorities would assist as appropriate federal officials looking into the crash.

But he says any time an aircraft hits a building, particularly after 9/11, "there is great speculation as to why and how that occurred."

KVUE News has multiple crews on the scene, and KVUE's Tyler Sieswerda and Terri Gruca are on the air.


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FBI Issues Warnings For Stadiums, Hotels & Transit

Investigation Into Possible Terror Plot Prompts FBI To Warn Mass-Transit Systems Around U.S.

Feds Believe Up To 12 Suspects Could Be Involved In Possible Madrid-Like Attack On NYC Subways

Counterterrorism officials have issued security bulletins to police around the nation about terrorists' desire to attack stadiums, entertainment complexes and hotels -- the latest in a flurry of such internal warnings as investigators chase a possible bomb plot in Denver and New York.

In the two bulletins -- sent to police departments Monday and obtained by The Associated Press -- officials said they know of no specific plots against such sites, but urged law enforcement and private companies to be vigilant. These two bulletins followed on the heels of a similar warning about the vulnerabilities of mass transit systems.

The bulletin on stadiums notes that an al-Qaida training manual specifically lists "blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality, and sin... and attacking vital economic centers" as desired targets of the global terror network.

Despite the three federal warnings, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters on Tuesday that local law enforcements were not aware of any specific threats to the city or its neighboring areas.

"There is no specific information that would give concern for those areas," Kelly said. "In a post 9-11 world, we're concerned about a lot of things. As I said, we do more in this city than any other city that I'm aware of."

Kelly was asked if the bulletins were a reason to be alarmed.

"We have not engaged in any different practices. We do a lot everday, we devote 1,000 police officers, actually over 1,000 officers everyday to protect this city from a terrorist threat," he said..

The FBI said they found notes on bomb-making instructions that appear to match the handwriting of Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghanistan immigrant who investigators have said is a key figure behind the terror threats. Investigators discovered his fingerprints on materials -- batteries and a scale -- that could be used to make explosives. He also made a trip to Pakistan last year in which he received al-Qaida explosives and weapons training, the government said.

Zazi, a legal resident of the U.S. who immigrated in 1999, told the FBI that he must have unintentionally downloaded the notes on bomb-making as part of a religious book and that he deleted the book "after realizing that its contents discussed jihad."

A strange sequence of events began to unfold nearly two weeks ago when Zazi -- already under surveillance by federal agents -- rented a car in Colorado and made the 1,600-mile trek across the heartland to New York. He told reporters that he went to New York to resolve an issue with a coffee cart he owned.

He went to his friend's place in Queens. Once there, his car was towed and authorities confiscated his computer. He was told by an NYPD informant that detectives were asking about him, and decided to cut the trip short and fly back to Colorado, authorities said.

Their surveillance blown and their main suspect flying back to Colorado, officials speeded up the investigation and launched raids on several Queens apartments in a search for explosives, but found none.

Zazi and his 53-year-old father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, were arrested Saturday in Denver. Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, was arrested in New York, where he is an imam at a mosque in Queens. The three are accused of making false statements to the government. If convicted, they face eight years in prison.

Homeland Security is asking the public to be on the lookout. A joint statement from DHS and FBI said while the agencies "have no information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack, we believe it is prudent to raise the security awareness of our local law enforcement partners regarding the targets and tactics of previous terrorist activity."

Officials noted the law enforcement bulletins are not intended for the public. Bulletins -- particularly about hotels as possible targets -- are common, and often don't make news. However, a half-dozen alerts issued in the last week have received increased attention amid the ongoing investigations in New York and Denver. The first of these, about hydrogen peroxide-based explosives, specifically referred to the investigation in New York.

Separately, law enforcement officials said a Colorado man may have been planning with others to detonate backpack bombs on New York City trains in a terrorism plot similar to past attacks on London's and Madrid's mass-transit systems.

The investigation and the earlier warning about mass transit system have already prompted officials around the nation to step up patrols.

Two law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation told The Associated Press late Monday that more than a half-dozen individuals were being scrutinized in the alleged plot.

In a statement, the FBI says that "several individuals in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere" are being investigated.

Investigators said Zazi, who is a shuttle van driver at the Denver airport, played a direct role in the terror plot that unraveled after an overnight 1,600-mile trip from Denver to New York City around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. He made his first court appearance Monday and remains behind bars.

Zazi and two other defendants have not been charged with any terrorism counts, only the relatively minor offense of lying to the government. But the case could grow to include more serious charges as the investigation proceeds.

Backpacks and cell phones were seized last week from apartments in Queens, where Zazi visited.

Zazi has publicly denied being involved in a terror plot, and defense lawyer Arthur Folsom dismissed as "rumor" any notion that his client played a crucial role.

Publicly, law enforcement officials have repeatedly said they are unaware of a specific time or target for any attacks. Privately, officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case said investigators have worried most about the possible use of backpack bombs on New York City trains, similar to attacks carried out in London in 2005 and Madrid in 2004.

Backpack bombs ripped apart four commuter trains and killed 191 people in Madrid on March 11, 2004. On July 7 the next year, bombing attacks in London killed 52 subway and bus commuters.

In a bulletin issued Friday, the FBI and Homeland Security Department warned that improvised explosive devices are the most common tactic to blow up railroads and other mass transit systems overseas. And they noted incidents in which bombs were made with peroxide.

In that bulletin, obtained by The AP, officials recommended that transit systems conduct random sweeps at terminals and stations and that law enforcement make random patrols and board some trains and buses.

Investigators feared Zazi may have been involved in a potential plot involving hydrogen peroxide-based explosives, according to two law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

ut for suspicious activities at storage facilities, as investigators search for stockpiled explosive chemicals that could be used in a possible terror attack.