A SkyWest Airlines employee wanted in a murder case attempted to steal a passenger plane, then shot himself in the head after crashing the aircraft in a nearby parking lot, officials said.

Salt Lake City –

A SkyWest Airlines pilot suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend stole an empty 50-passenger jet from a small Utah airport, crashed it as he drove near a terminal, then killed himself with a gunshot to the head, officials said on Tuesday.

Brian Hedglin, 40, used a rug to scale the razor wire-topped security fence at the St George Municipal Airport overnight on Tuesday and drove off with the SkyWest jet, St George city spokesman Marc Mortenson said.

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