Source:
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/
Truck rams Capitol: Driver killed in fiery attack
http://www.sacbee.com/news/beelive/show_story.cgi?truck
By Mareva Brown, Emily Bazar and Sam Stanton
Bee Staff Writers
Updated: Jan. 17, 2001 - 7:05 a.m.
In what authorities said was an attack by a mentally disturbed parolee, a
big rig smashed into the south steps of the state Capitol building Tuesday,
causing a massive fire that forced the evacuation of lawmakers and staffers
attending a session on California's energy crisis.
The driver of the truck was killed in the 9:26 p.m. crash, officials said,
and a fire erupted that charred the inner walls of the Capitol's first floor.
No other injuries were reported, and firefighters quickly got the fire
under control and evacuated lawmakers, staff and press from the building.
The FBI's counterterrorism unit and state and local law enforcement
officials rushed to the scene, where sources said they initially feared the
incident was a terrorist attack.
But it remained unclear late Tuesday exactly why the truck crashed into the
building.
One source said the registered driver is believed to be a 37-year-old
former parolee from Southern California named Mike Bowers.
Officials with the Dick Simon trucking firm of Salt Lake City said the
truck was on a regular run in the Sacramento area but had no other information.
Bowers has a history of assaults, theft and other contacts with law
enforcement and authorities have a file documenting threats he allegedly
has made against Gov. Gray Davis, according to sources. Davis was not in
the building at the time.
An official with the trucking company confirmed Bowers was the driver
assigned to that truck.
However, the driver's body was burned beyond recognition and a positive
identification was not possible Tuesday.
Officials said early today, however, that they still do not know why the
truck rammed the building.
"We don't even know who this is," said Capt. Dennis Williams, chief of
California Highway Patrol's Capitol Protection Unit. "There's even the
possibility that this could be an accident."
"I think there would have been a lot more fear if he wouldn't have been in
the cab or there would have been more occupants (of the truck)," one law
enforcement source said.
Witnesses said the truck had circled the Capitol several times before
speeding north on 11th Street. The driver was blaring the truck's horn
when the vehicle crashed into the steps of the Capitol's south entrance,
then smashed through the ornate wooden doors and burst into flames.
"It was like a suicide bomber thing," said Matt Z'Berg, a staffer for
Assemblyman Ed Chavez, D-El Monte.
Z'Berg, 33, was walking to his car parked nearby when he saw the truck
racing up 11th Street honking its horn as it approached the traffic signal
at N Street.
"I figured it was going probably 50 to 70 mph," Z'Berg said. "When the
light turned red he accelerated. There were no brake lights involved at all.
"He jumped the curb and went up ... the granite stairs and smashed the
front of his 18-wheeler into the doors."
The incident occurred six minutes after the Assembly had voted 60-5 in
favor of an emergency measure to help solve the state's energy crisis, and
the crash created a surreal scene inside the chamber.
As lawmakers gathered with lobbyists and staffers to chat and congratulate
each other on the evening's work, a visibly shaken California Highway
Patrol officer came in and ordered everyone to get out of the building.
"Everyone must evacuate now," the officer shouted. "There's a big rig that
exploded on the side of the Capitol."
Over the Assembly loudspeaker system, a voice warned, "This is not a drill."
Hundreds of people rushed out of the building as they pulled on their
coats, ran down stairs and yelled into cellphones.
On the ground floor, flames shot as high as third-floor windows and charred
the outer walls as well as inside hallways. But firefighters managed to
extinguish the flames within 20 minutes, Fire Capt. Don Braziel said.
With the driver's body still inside the cab, bomb experts gingerly
inspected the cab and trailer in search of explosives.
A Sacramento Fire Department inspector who refused to be named said
firefighters had found no explosives inside the vehicle and that the fire
may have been sparked when the truck's fuel tanks were ripped off the side
as it hit the doorway.
Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg said he had been told the truck circled
the Capitol several times before making a run at the south entrance.
"The truck appeared to drive down 11th Street with the intention of ramming
the Capitol," Hertzberg said. "It's horrible, just horrible. I don't know
what the driver was thinking."
Hertzberg said there had been no recent threats against lawmakers or the
Capitol, which officials have discussed surrounding by a security wall in
recent years because of terrorism concerns spawned by the Oklahoma City
federal building bombing.
The incident set off a massive response from local law enforcement, as well
as the Sacramento bureau of the FBI. James Maddock, special agent in
charge of the local FBI office and a veteran counterterrorism expert,
huddled with Sheriff Lou Blanas and authorities inside a Sacramento
Sheriff's Department mobile emergency bus near the site.
However, authorities had no explanation late Tuesday for what may have
prompted the incident.
Officials with the trucking firm in Salt Lake City said they believed the
truck had been in Sacramento on a regularly scheduled run to deliver cans
of evaporated milk.
The firm employs 2,400 drivers, and one source said if the body in the
truck was identified as the regular driver it may have been a case where a
mentally disturbed man decided to attack the building.
The incident spawned a four-alarm fire with 10 engines and seven fire
trucks, but by midnight it was clear that the only thing that sparked the
fire was diesel fuel from the vehicle.
Bee staff writers Ed Fletcher, Walt Wiley, Kevin Yamamura, Fahizah Alim,
Amy Chance, Dan Smith, Blair Anthony Robertson, Matthew Barrows,
M.S. Enkoji, Deb Kollars, Cheryl Miller, Carlos Alacalá and Ralph Montaño
contributed to these reports.
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