Hey all,

 I’m installing a ceiling cassette heat pump in my attic and there are two 2×4 that are in the way.  I can’t tell if it’s a structural truss or if it was temporary truss put in place during installing (and currently serves no purpose).  It runs from gable wall to gable and I would need to cut 16″ off the chord end which would essentially remove connectivity between the load-bearing walls.  I was wondering if you fine people would be willing to take a look at the pictures below and let me know if making this cut is a bad idea.

Here’s a picture of the attic 

Here’s a rough sketchup of what’s going on in my attic:

Here’s an sketchup of the section I’d like to remove:

Here’s a picture of an old set of plans I found that make no mention of a truss in the attic.

I appreciate any help/knowledge you all are willing to share.