A suicidal 29-year-old ground agent boarded a Horizon Air Bombardier Q400 and made an authorized takeoff from Seattle's Sea-Tac airport late Friday night, crashing the plane on Ketron island after attempting stunts and communicating with a controller.
The Seattle Times reports: ‘The Sheriff's Department said it was “not a terrorist incident.” The plane crashed either while the man was doing stunts or because of a lack of flying skills, according to the Sheriff's Department. “A joyride gone terribly wrong,” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said during a news conference in Steilacoom, which is about 3 miles from the island. No injuries were reported on the ground, Pastor said, as the plane crashed and started an intense fire on the wooded, 230-acre island, which has a population of 20. He said it appeared the man who took the plane died.'
The SeattlePI adds that the man also said: “I've got a lot of people that care about me. It's going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never knew it, until now.”
Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29 year old Pierce county residence . We are working back ground on him now.
— Pierce Co Sheriff (@PierceSheriff) August 11, 2018
The FBI released statements last night:
Although response efforts to tonight's aircraft incident and the investigation are still ongoing, information gathered thus far does NOT suggest a terrorist threat or additional, pending criminal activity.
— FBI Seattle (@FBISeattle) August 11, 2018
The FBI continues to work with our state, local, and federal partners to gather a complete picture of what transpired with tonight's unauthorized Horizon aircraft takeoff and crash. We don't anticipate that further details will be available tonight.
— FBI Seattle (@FBISeattle) August 11, 2018
Horizon Air also issued a statement:
https://youtu.be/LM6zshBLSDg
