2010 Austin suicide attack
The 2010 Austin suicide attack occurred on February 18, 2010, when Andrew Joseph Stack III deliberately crashed his single-engine Piper Dakota light aircraft into Building I of the Echelon office complex in Austin, Texas, United States, killing himself and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) manager Vernon Hunter. Thirteen others were injured, two severely. The four-story office building housed an IRS field office occupying the top three floors, along with a couple of private businesses on the first floor. Prior to the crash, Stack had posted a suicide note to his website, expressing his disillusionment with corporations and government agencies such as the IRS. Stack is also suspected of having set fire that morning to his two-story North Austin house, which was mostly destroyed.
| 2010 Austin suicide attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of Terrorism in the United States | |
Panorama of the building the day after the plane crash | |
| Location | 9430 Research Boulevard Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 30°23′6″N 97°44′37″W |
| Date | February 18, 2010 9:56 local (15:56 UTC) (UTC-6) |
| Target | Internal Revenue Service field office in Austin, Texas |
Attack type | Suicide attack |
| Weapons | Fixed-wing aircraft (Piper Dakota) |
| Deaths | 2 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 13 |
| Victim | Vernon Hunter |
| Perpetrator | Andrew Joseph Stack III |
| Motive | Anger towards IRS policies |
In the aftermath, there was increased debate over the policies of the IRS, and different forms of protest. In response to the attack, the IRS spent more than $38.6 million, with $6.4 million spent to recover and resume work at the building, and over $32 million spent to increase security at other IRS sites in the U.S. However, the spending on security changes was questioned as being ineffective, as none of it would actually prevent airplanes from crashing into the buildings. The building was repaired by December 2011.