Horror in Austin: Crash Dominates Cable News

TV viewers were stunned by the sight of flames and smoke rising from an Austin, Texas, building Thursday after a pilot slammed his plane into the structure, which housed Internal Revenue Service offices.

Two people were killed, including the pilot, identified as 53-year-old Joseph A. Stack III, and two people were hospitalized. One person was unaccounted Thursday afternoon, and a second body eventually was found, The Associated Press reported.

Authorities "have now accounted for everybody," Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Palmer Buck said late Thursday, but he declined to elaborate.

Hours after the crash into the seven-story building, firefighters still fought the blaze, the Times reported.

Though the nature of the crash and the sight of the building recalled the horrific images of Sept. 11, 2001, federal authorities stressed that they didn't consider the crash to be an act of terrorism, and reporters avoided the word in their coverage.

The AP said law enforcement officials were looking at a website linked to Stack that discussed problems with the IRS and said "violence is the only answer."

Earlier Thursday, Stack's house — about five miles from the crash site — erupted into flames. Law enforcement officials said Stack had apparently set fire to his home before the crash.