Denver International Airport officials and the city’s chief medical examiner released the identity of the man who was struck by a departing aircraft while walking on an active runway on Friday.

Dr. Sterling McLaren, Denver’s chief medical examiner, identified the man as 41-year-old Michael Mott.

“The cause of death is multiple blunt and sharp force injuries,” McLaren said at a briefing held at DIA on Tuesday. “The manner of death is suicide.”

McLaren confirmed Mott was pulled into the aircraft’s engine and was positively identified by his fingerprints.

Mott was not an airport employee, officials said.

Officials did not release information on whether Mott was a Denver resident. They said he had “some law enforcement contact in the metro area.”

A search of Colorado court records shows that Mott was arrested at least 19 times from 2014 to 2026 in El Paso, Pueblo and Montezuma counties. The Colorado Springs Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest last month after Mott allegedly failed to show up for a court hearing in a case where he faced trespassing, resisting arrest and criminal mischief charges.

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said the airport police division will continue to work with DIA operations to review and evaluate the incident and address any perimeter security concerns.

Airport officials said that around 11:10 p.m. on the night of the incident, airport motion sensors detected an activity near the location where Mott scaled the 8-foot perimeter fence, just 650 feet from the active runway.

“The operator on duty reviewed the alarm and identified a herd of deer just outside of the perimeter fence, very near to where the incident occurred,” DIA CEO Phil Washington said. “They did not initially see the trespasser. The camera view was alternating between the wildlife and the individual.”

Deep gulches in the area obscured the camera view at times.

“It took approximately 15 seconds for this person to jump over the 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire,” Washington said, adding that the time between the perimeter fence breach and the impact of the plane was approximately two minutes. 

Given the short time period, Washington said airport officials were unable to intervene and prevent him from reaching the runway.  

The location where Mott climbed the airport’s eastern fence is approximately 2 miles from the main terminal.

To date, no motor vehicle or bicycle has been found in the area, which officials described as “farmland.”

Toxicology reports will be forthcoming, as well as investigations into Mott’s mental health, officials said.

Washington was quick to defend the airport’s safety record amid critics’ worries for “soft spots” in security.

“Safety is something that we take very, very seriously,” Washington said. “In fact, we have received perfect scores on multiple FAA safety inspections, which include validation of airfield safety and perimeter integrity.”

Washington added that DIA’s perimeter fencing meets specific regulatory guidance set forth by the Transportation Safety Administration and that a post-incident inspection concluded the fence is intact.

DIA uses a “layered” approach to its security, meaning that it overlays multiple tools, such as closed-circuit television monitoring on runways, ground-based radar systems that monitor fencelines to identify and capture video, and thermal imaging.

“Even so, it doesn’t necessarily mean we can eliminate them all,” Washington said. “Specifically in terms of the perimeter fence, we have 36 miles of fence line within our 53 square miles of airport property here — Denver International Airport is the second largest airport by land mass, second only to the airport in Saudi Arabia.”

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board continues to gather information about the evacuation of the Frontier Airlines plane to determine whether an investigation is warranted.

Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft onto the runway via slides, and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. An airport spokesperson said 12 passengers received minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals. 

Airport officials confirmed this is not the first perimeter fence breach at Denver International Airport. They said they would release the exact number in the near future.

Mott’s most serious charge appeared to be an attempted homicide case from Montezuma County in 2005, where he also faced assault charges. He pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge in that case, and several charges were dropped in a plea agreement, court records show. He was sentenced to six year in prison on that case in July 2005.

His court records show that Mott was placed under mental health stay orders and competency evaluations in at least two cases.

Editor’s note: This story includes the issue of suicide. For resources to help, call the Colorado Mental Health line at 988 or visit www.988colorado.com.