Yavuz Berke and Suicide

Yavuz Berke/Adam Leon is claiming that suicide by the U.S. military was his motivation in stealing a plane.

From ABC News:

The Canadian man who led fighter jets on a chase across six states Monday flew his stolen plane into the United States. in hopes the military would shoot him down and kill him, according to a Missouri state trooper who apprehended the rogue pilot.

Missouri state trooper Justin Watson told "Good Morning America" today that 31-year-old Yavuz Berke, formerly known as Adam Leon, wanted to commit suicide, but didn't have the courage to do it himself.

"His idea was to fly the aircraft into the United States where he would be shot down," Watson said. "He stated several times that at any time he thought he was going to be shot down."

And he came close several times, Watson said.

Instead, Berke landed the single-engine Cessna 172 on U.S. Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Mo., at 9:50 p.m. ET. He made his way to a convenience store where a clerk noticed him and called police. He was found drinking Gatorade, seemingly relieved that his ordeal was over.

I don't really buy that Berke wanted to commit suicide but didn't have the "courage" to do it himself.
It would have been much easier to take a nap on some railroad tracks in Canada.

He certainly chose a very dramatic route to commit suicide.

It's odd that the day Obama was in Turkey this native of Turkey decided to steal a plane in Canada, fly it into U.S. airspace, and push the U.S. military to shoot him down.

When it was clear the U.S. pilots weren't going to shoot him down, he didn't crash the plane, another suicide opportunity lost. Instead, he landed and got himself a Gatorade. Even on the ground, he could have tried to get police to kill him if he really wanted to die.

This doesn't add up. It seems that if he couldn't get U.S. pilots to shoot him out of the sky, he wanted to live another day.