SEATAC — A “suicidal” airline mechanic stole an empty Horizon Airlines plane, took off from Sea-Tac International Airport and was chased by military jets before crashing near a small island in the Puget Sound on Friday night, officials said.

Preliminary information suggests that the 29-year-old mechanic stole the Horizon Air Q400 and the crash occurred because he was “doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, said on Twitter the man was suicidal and there was no connection to terrorism.

Video showed the aircraft doing large loops and other dangerous maneuvers as the sun set.

In Japan, a prefectural government rescue helicopter crashed on an eastern Japan mountain Friday, killing all nine people aboard, the transport ministry and local government said.

The chopper belonging to Gunma Prefecture lost contact with air traffic control earlier in the day and debris was found in the afternoon in a mountain forest in Gunma.

The sheriff’s department said they were working to conduct a background investigation on the Pierce County resident, whose name was not immediately released.

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