Russell allegedly stole the Horizon Air Q400, which had no passengers on board, at around 8 p.m. local time on Friday. He later crashed on Ketron Island, igniting a fire. He is believed to be deceased. The airport was temporarily shut down as a result of the incident.
“There was an incident late yesterday involving the unauthorized operation of one of our aircraft that took off from Sea-Tac around 8 p.m.,” Alaska Air Group CEO Brad Tilden said in a statement early Saturday. “We are still gathering facts, but at this point we understand there was only one person aboard, an employee of Horizon Air, who was operating the aircraft. I want to share how incredibly sad all of us at Alaska are about this incident. Our heart is heavy for the family and friends of the person involved.”
“We’re working to find out everything we possibly can about what happened, working with the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Transportation Safety Board. We are giving those investigators our full support and cooperation,” Tilden continued. “With these investigations underway, our focus will remain on supporting the family of the individual involved, the broader Alaska and Horizon family, and our communities and guests.”
On Saturday, the Pierce County Sheriff said the hijacking was not a “terrorist incident.” “Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29-year-old Pierce county residence [sic],” the department tweeted.
The Seattle FBI tweeted on Saturday that despite “the intense interest in the individual responsible for Friday night’s unauthorized flight of a Horizon aircraft” providing any further details would be “premature” as the “investigation is still in its early stages.”
Speaking to the air traffic control personnel, Russell 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 really knew it, until now.”
Tilden said that the ground-services employee was with the company for four years, and was working a shift when the incident occurred. “It was his job to be around airplanes,” Tilden said during a Saturday press conference.
Russell’s former coworker, Rick Christenson,described him toThe Seattle Timesas a “quiet guy.”
“Everybody’s stunned… that something like this would happen,” Christenson told the outlet. “How could it? Everybody’s been through background checks.”
According to theSeattle Times, Russell was married, and had previously owned an Oregon bakery with his wife. The outlet reported that he was also a Christian youth leader.
Russell posted a YouTube video about his job and his travels in December. “Hi, I’m Beebo Russell, and I’m a ground service agent. That means I lift a lot of bags. Like, a lot of bags. So many bags,” he narrated the clip. “I usually have to work outside in this [rain], but it allows me to do some pretty cool things, too.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “help” to theCrisis Text Lineat 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.
source: people.com
