'Take my pound of flesh and sleep well'

WASHINGTON - A disgruntled software engineer who had a beef with the IRS set his house on fire, then committed suicide by flying a small plane into an Austin, Texas, building where the federal agency had offices, authorities said yesterday.

At least two people on the ground were injured in the crash, which turned the office building's facade into a charred mosaic. At least one person remained unaccounted for, according to local officials.

Early on, officials feared the plane crash might be connected to foreign terrorism and scrambled two F-16s from Houston's Ellington Field. But officials later discounted the possibility of terrorism and focused on a civilian crime instead.

FBI officials in Washington said they were investigating Joseph Andrew Stack, identified as a software company engineer who lives in the Austin area. Stack, who has Pennsylvania ties, was reportedly involved in a dispute with the IRS.

In a Web-site posting, Stack writes that he has had enough, but doesn't explain the nature of his argument with the IRS.

"I am finally ready to stop this insanity," Stack wrote. "Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well."

At about 9:15 a.m. CST, Stack was believed to have set fire to his home with his wife, Sharon, and their daughter inside. It turned out they were away and arrived later to discover the house burning.

After setting the fire, Stack then apparently went to the local airport where he took a plane registered to him. Police said earlier reports that Stack stole a plane were incorrect.

Witnesses said the small craft appeared to sharply bank from the east across a highway. It hit the building in the lower floors just before 10 a.m. The plane was flying low.

"It's very surreal," Megan Riley, a witness to the crash, said in an interview with KXAN-TV.

The building was engulfed in flames after the crash. Firefighters poured into the structure to fight the blaze.

At least two people were hospitalized and another person was unaccounted for, Assistant Fire Chief Harry Evans said.

The plane hit the building in the lower floors and Evans said the damage to the second floor was very heavy.

The fire burned about 90 minutes before officials said it was contained.

The structure, known as the Echelon Building, has business and government offices, including those of the IRS. In a statement, The IRS said 190 employees work in the building.

Earlier yesterday, about five miles from the crash site, Stack's $232,000 home was engulfed in flames, the Associated Press said. Two-law enforcement officials said Stack had set fire to his home before the crash.

The roof of Stack's red-brick home on a tree-lined street in a middle-class neighborhood was mostly caved in, and the home's windows were blown out. The garage doors were open and a big pile of debris was inside.

Elbert Hutchins, who lives one house away, 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. She said they would not be commenting.

"They're remarkably calm but they're clearly distraught. . . . They're in need of some mental-health assistance and we're providing that," McKellips said.

According to the Associated Press, Harrisburg Area Community College spokesman Patrick Early said engineering student Andrew J. Stack III collected nearly 60 credits at the school from 1975 to 1977 but left without getting a degree.

Early says Stack's last address on file was in Corona, Calif., in 1999.

A spokeswoman for Milton Hershey School in Hershey said Andrew Joseph Stack III graduated from the school in 1974.