~or~ "That dude was Weapons-Grade Crazy!"
At an office park directly across the street from where I used to live, is my "It's A Small World" linkage. At least 2 other men where I work, also used to live there.
The narrative coming from callers to the morning radio shows who claim to be witnesses, friends, and neighbors, says this is what happened:
There was a 'domestic disturbance' at a house in Scoffield (near Georgetown, Texas) last night. Husband went bonkers, tearing up the house. Wife left with her daughter to a hotel for the night.
This morning, a friggen CAT and a house were set on fire and the dude that lived there took off in his car.
His car was found at the local puddle-jumper airport, and his Piper Cherokee was not.
A Cherokee flew into building 2 of the Echelon office park, apparently striking a 2nd-floor break room at a time when everyone was in their morning meetings. Out of 199 employees in the building, 1 is reported missing and 2 are hospitalized with injuries. There are supposed to have been IRS offices in the building.
JJ, who used to work with me, works in the same office park making LED billboards. He said the building where he works was shaken by the blast when the plane hit, and the explosion with accompanying 50-foot fireball blew out car windows in the parking lot.
The FBI has a field office of some sort in one of the other Echelon buildings, and they were on the scene immediately interviewing witnesses.
The building was destroyed by fire, but the fire was quickly contained.
Fun reportage: a woman stuck in traffic saw the plane ~50 yards directly in front of her, banking hard right over the highway.
Various government agencies report that the house fire is being investigated as an arson, and related to the plane crash.
A neighbor claims that the house exploded and glass was found littered around the house
I took the time to read the rambling screed the killer/pilot put on his website. The message I took away from it is: "Wah wah, poor poor pitiful me, the government made life too hard on me and I chose poorly when I picked a career path. My accountant screwed me over so I have to go kill as many people as possible." No wonder this guy was twice failed in business and once in marriage: he was apparently a perpetual victim-by-choice as well as a whiny bitchbaby. Good riddance to bad rubbish, and thank God he didn't kill as many people as he wanted to do.
Side note: the FBI accepted the prerogative to investigate the case according to Police Chief Acevedo. They got the original manifesto website pulled down but the Internet never forgets. Also, within 5 hours jokes were being made about this event where I work. The dude tried to die valiantly for a cause, trying to bring down the system, and after lunchtime, his life's expenditure was already reduced to a laughingstock. In death as in life:
Fail.
Granted the guy seems to have been a loser, and his screed is ... well, a screed. But woven in there are legitimate complaints against the tax code and the IRS.
ReplyDeleteNow the interesting question: If you shared his views of the IRS and government, and you had (injudiciously) decided that you were ready to both die and kill for your views, what would you have done differently?
I wouldn't have off'd myself, that's for [deleted] sure. Probably would have picked a more worthwhile target, too. You know, like the Concrete Armpit of the United States or something. Not some dinky local .fed building.
ReplyDeleteI'm still of the opinion that the mess can be repaired from within through proper channels and procedures (even if it means *I* have to run for office or something). This sort of thing is, at the very best, hugely premature. It's too early even to be the 'Fort Sumter' I *really* don't want to see happen.