The death of an airport worker who was killed after being ingested by a jet engine has been ruled a suicide by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man identified as David Renner was a contract worker for Delta Airlines at San Antonio International Airport, according to the Daily Mail. Renner’s brother Joshua said his brother had a difficult childhood and a life ridden with mental illness and suicidal attempts. However, he’d left no indication in recent months that he wanted to self-harm.
“The reason I say that is because he was almost five months clean and living every day to the fullest,” Joshua said.
He also noted that their parents had been regularly checking up on David’s well-being. Despite having struggled with addiction in the past, Joshua also said his brother had been clean for months. Unfortunately, he knew his brother’s mental clarity was sometimes hard to perceive from the outside looking in.
“David had been clean for over eight months, was in therapy, [was] actively taking his prescribed medication, and had finally became the David we all knew he could be,” Joshua said.
The young man’s death occurred on Friday when Delta Flight 1111 landed in San Antonio. The plane was taxiing the gate “when a worker was ingested into that engine at about 10:25 p.m.,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement to CNN on Sunday evening.
Delta Airlines released a statement saying they were “grieving” the loss of the contract employee. The safety board released a statement saying, “We are deeply saddened by this incident and are working with authorities as they begin their investigation. We will share more information as details become available.”
Unifi Aviation, the company that hired Renner, also released a statement to CNN saying, “Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, and we remain focused on supporting our employees on the ground and ensuring they are being taken care of during this time. From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi’s operational processes, safety procedures, and policies. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be sharing any additional information. While police and other officials continue to investigate this incident, we defer to them on providing further details.”
Currently, the Renner family is “doing the best they can do right now.” Joshua is encouraging others to pay attention to the warning signs of those around them “because someone random can save the life of a random stranger.”
