An airline employee stole and crashed an empty plane

A reportedly suicidal Horizon Air ground service agent stole one of the airline's planes from a maintenance area at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday night and crashed it about an hour later.

The plane, a Bombardier Q400 turboprop that seats 76 people, was otherwise empty at the time of the crash. It was pursued by military jets before crashing on Ketron Island in Puget Sound.

"I've got a lot of people that care about me," the man who took the plane told an air traffic controller who was trying to persuade him to land nearby. "It's going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. ... Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess." He is thought to have been killed in the crash.

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The identity of the man who stole the plane has not been released as local and federal authorities investigate. No terrorism ties are suspected, and no one else was injured in the crash.