Federal authorities were searching on Saturday for what drove an airline worker to steal an empty aeroplane from Seattle’s airport and crashing it into a nearby sparsely populated island, sparking a security scare that saw U.S. fighter jets scrambled.
The 29-year-old Horizon Air ground service agent, who has not been identified, was suicidal and appeared to have acted alone, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter, adding the employee was probably killed in the crash.
“Doing stunts in the air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island,” the sheriff said on Twitter.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the incident, said Brad Tilden, the CEO of Alaska Air Group.
