A tractor-trailer truck burst into flames as it smashed into the California state Capitol in Sacramento last night in what authorities were investigating as a deliberate attack.
FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents rushed to the Capitol, and state troopers treated the site as a crime scene.
Although investigators offered no official cause for the crash, some in the building were convinced it was no accident.
“There’s no question in my mind that this was a deliberate act,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg.
The truck’s driver was dead at the scene, said the California Highway Patrol. Police said it did not immediately appear that anyone in the building was hurt.
The driver circled the Capitol several times before making his final run on the building – gathering speed over six blocks of Sacramento streets and roaring over a sidewalk and lawn before hitting the building, local TV reports said.
Some told San Francisco-area TV stations that the truck appeared to be traveling 70 mph.
The rear part of the trailer burned brightly in a picture posted on the Web site of a Sacramento TV station. Local news reports said the truck was carrying a load of powdered milk.
Members of the state Assembly were wrapping up a session on the state’s electricity crisis when the truck crashed at about 9:30 p.m. local time. An alarm sounded and the Capitol building was quickly evacuated.
The truck, horns blaring, smashed into the Capitol’s south doors and burst into flames just underneath the state Senate chamber. The fire was quickly brought under control.
Michael Fahn, a motorist who heard several explosions, said his first reaction was that it was a terror attack.
“I thought, ‘My God, they are bombing the Capitol,'”he said.