Investigators say they've taken everything they can out of the site of that suicide plane attack in Northwest Austin. Today the Travis County Medical Examiner confirmed the body of the pilot was Joseph Stack. The U.S. Treasury Secretary and IRS Commissioner visited with IRS workers today and saw first hand what's left of the Echleon building after last week's attack.
Thursday the Echelon building burned for hours after a deliberate plane crash into the IRS offices there. Four days later, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner and IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman, stood just a few feet from where the plane made impact, getting a rare perspective of the destruction.
"Everyone has different emotions about this, people are angry that this happened, people are sad about losing a colleague, but mostly I think people have great resolve that they serve this country everyday, they do hard work on behalf of the American citizens and an act like this won't get in the way us doing our job with dignity and respect for every American," said Shulman.
Earlier the two visited IRS employees at the South Austin office.
"We just spent an hour with the men and women who work in that building, listening to them talk about their colleague who died, what an inspirational leader he was, we listened to the stories they told about evacuating this building in three minutes, all the lives they saved by working together," said Geithner.
Geithner and Shulman's arrival comes just a day after the FBI said goodbye. According to a bureau spokesman, investigators finished collecting evidence early Sunday afternoon. All that evidence -- including what's left of the plane used in the attack -- will be taken off-site for analysis. Still, Austin police officers and federal agents from as far away as South Carolina are maintaining a perimeter around the building, which continues to attract Austinites who had to see it for themselves.
"It makes it real, makes it very real," said Teresa Savina from Austin.
The frontage road in front of the echelon complex is closed indefinitely. TEX-DOT will decide when it re-opens.
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