Who was Michael Mott? Frontier Airlines suicide victim at Denver airport identified as tragic details emerge

Authorities have identified 41-year-old Michael Mott as the man who was killed by suicide after being struck by a Frontier Airlines plane during takeoff.

Authorities have identified 41-year-old Michael Mott as the person who was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during takeoff at Denver International Airport on Friday night. Officials said the incident happened shortly before the aircraft departed for Los Angeles.

Michael Mott was identified as the man killed after being struck by a Frontier Airlines. (AP)

According to The New York Times, the Denver Medical Examiner ruled Mott’s death a suicide. Investigators are still trying to understand what led to the incident.

Who was Michael Mott?

Denver Chief Medical Examiner Sterling McLaren identified the man as Michael Mott, 41, during a press conference on Tuesday, according to Fox31. Officials said fingerprints found at the scene helped confirm his identity.

McLaren said Mott died from multiple blunt force injuries and confirmed that the manner of death was suicide. According to The New York Times, McLaren said Mott died after being pulled into the airplane’s engine, which also caused a fire.

Investigators said Mott was not an airport employee. Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said authorities are trying to gather more information about Mott and are asking anyone who knew him to come forward.

Officials also said they have not found any suicide note. Authorities are still contacting Mott’s family members to learn more about him and understand why the incident happened.

What happened at Denver International Airport?

According to airport officials, At around 11:15pm local time, Mott jumped over the airport’s perimeter fence late Friday night and reached the runway minutes before being struck by a Frontier Airlines aircraft preparing for takeoff.

The Frontier Airbus A321, operating Flight 4345 to Los Angeles was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members when this incident happened.

Officials said Mott climbed over an eight-foot fence topped with barbed wire near an area about two miles from the airport terminal. Airport motion sensors were triggered around the same time because a herd of deer was detected outside the airport perimeter.

Denver International Airport CEO Phillip Washington said an operator reviewed the alert and noticed the deer but did not see Mott. He added that ditches in the area may have helped hide him from view.

It took Mr. Mott about 15 seconds to jump over the fence, Washington said.

“Given the short time period, we were not able to intervene and prevent this person from reaching the runway,” he added, as per New York Times

Officials also said that Denver International Airport has 36 miles of fencing, CCTV monitoring, security patrols and radar systems are designed to detect intruders. However, investigators said Mott was able to reach the runway about two minutes after crossing the fence.

Officials said the pilots quickly aborted takeoff after reporting an engine fire and smoke inside the aircraft. Passengers were evacuated onto the runway using emergency slides.

As per The New York Times, Denver Airport said that a total of 12 people were injured during the evacuation process.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, airport officials and local law enforcement are all investigating the incident.

(Disclaimer: This content touches on suicide and may be distressing; if you or someone you know is in crisis, help is available at 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or by texting 988 in the US)