A radar system monitoring Denver International Airport’s eastern fenceline triggered an alarm minutes before a man scaled the 8-foot fence, ran onto a runway and was hit and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane about to take off, authorities said Tuesday.
The operator responding to the alarm late Friday night initially only saw a herd of deer outside the fence, not the trespasser, identified as Michael Mott, 41, apparently because of some ditches nearby, airport CEO Philip A. Washington said. But two minutes after Mott quickly climbed the fence, about 2 miles from the airport’s terminal, he was hit by the plane.
Mott’s death was determined to be a suicide but investigators didn’t release details about why they came to that conclusion.
The pilots of the Frontier flight aborted the takeoff after the impact, which caused an engine fire on the plane, which was carrying 231 people. Twelve people reported minor injuries. Five of them were taken to a hospital for treatment, and only one remained at a hospital Tuesday morning, Washington said.
Other people have gotten over the fences at the airport before but were all apprehended “very, very quickly,” Washington said. He could not immediately say how many people have previously scaled the 36 miles of fencing at Denver’s sprawling airport, which he said is the second-largest in the world by size.
The barbed-wire topped fence that Mott scaled in about 15 seconds was not damaged, Washington said. It wasn’t known how he got to the location where he climbed over the fence. There was no indication of any bike or automobile nearby.
“I don’t want to speculate on how this individual got there, but we will dig into that as well,” Washington said.
The airport depends on layers of security to keep people out of the 53-square-mile property, including technology like a ground-based radar system that monitors its fenceline and cameras that capture video and thermal imaging, and security patrols, Washington said. He said the airport would look at what improvements could be made because of the incident.
“The layered approach has worked for us,” he said.
The radar system triggered an alarm at the fence at 11:10 p.m. Friday, Washington said. An operator, using video surveillance, then saw a herd of deer just outside the fence but didn’t initially see Mott. The camera alternated between showing the deer and a person, he said. Mott scaled the fence at 11:13 p.m., he said. Two minutes later, the airport was notified by the Federal Aviation Administration that someone had been hit by a plane, he said.
“Given the short time period we were not able to intervene and prevent this person from reaching the runway,” Washington said.
Passenger Nikil Thalanki told local media outlets that he felt “this jerk” as the plane was about to take off, adding that it felt like the wheels had left the ground but then came back down.
Some people on board expressed concern about the evacuation, including being stuck in the plane for several minutes as smoke filled the cabin. Video also showed some passengers coming down the slide apparently with their carry-on bags.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday said it is gathering information about whether it should investigate the evacuation.
Washington praised the actions of the Frontier pilot and crew, calling them “exceptional.”
“This could have been far worse and so we are indebted to their professionalism,” he said.
A search of statewide arrest records showed that Mott has been arrested several times dating back to when he was 18 in Montezuma County, when he was found guilty of misdemeanor trespassing. In 2005, he was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree assault in Cortez, according to a Colorado Bureau of Investigations database. He was arrested in 2010 for violating parole after being accused of fighting in public in Montezuma County, according to the records. In 2016, he was found guilty of property damage and trespassing in Pueblo.
He was arrested most recently in Colorado Springs in April on allegations of trespassing, resisting arrest and causing property damage. Kate Singh, a spokesperson for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which prosecutes cases in El Paso and Teller counties, said he was charged with first-degree trespassing, resisting arrest and criminal mischief. The case was pending against him at the time of his death, she said.
A spokesperson for Colorado Springs police, Derek Wilson, said Mott, who was also arrested in Colorado Springs on an assault charge in November, was a “member of the unhoused community.” Denver police said they weren’t sure of Mott’s status. Their investigation found that Mott had a residence as recently as March.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Mott had an attorney representing him who could comment on his behalf.
At the time of the morning press conference, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said police were still looking for family and other people who knew Mott or had contact with him soon before he died.
Denver’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Sterling McLaren, said investigators determined that Mott died by suicide based on scene findings, circumstances and history, acknowledging that they really can’t really know the intent of people who kill themselves. Toxicology tests, which would determine the presence of any drugs or alcohol in Mott’s system, will be done based on samples taken from the scene, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.