Timeline For October Following The September 11 Attacks - Monday, October 8, 2001

Monday, October 8, 2001

• 1:25 p.m. EDT (approx): Health officials announce that anthrax spores were found in office where the man killed by anthrax worked. They were found in the nose of a co-worker and on a computer keyboard in the Boca Raton, Florida offices of the tabloid The Sun. In a press briefing, John Ashcroft states that the FBI has sealed the building is working with the CDC to determine if this is a criminal or terrorist act. See 2001 anthrax attacks.
• 3:00 p.m CST (approx.): On American Airlines Flight 1238, en route from Los Angeles to Chicago, a man with severe mental problems stormed the cockpit 40 minutes before landing in Chicago, causing the plane to drop sharply and causing a panic. In light of the fear ignited by 9/11, flight crew and passengers were quick to wrestle the man to the ground and subdue him. Additionally, a distress signal was sent by the pilots, causing two F-16s to race at supersonic speeds to intercept and escort the aircraft to O'Hare International Airport. This caused a sonic boom in Chicago's northwest suburbs, startling hundreds of thousands of people.