Two drivers who crashed into Detroit Metro Airport terminals months apart are now charged with assault with intent to murder.

Two cars, two terminals, one airport, four months apart, and nobody badly hurt either time. That last part is luck, and the prosecutor said so. The harder question for both cases is intent. The top count requires proof that each driver meant to kill, and Worthy declined to discuss either man's mental state. One of them reportedly told police he came to meet Tom Cruise.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced charges Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, against the drivers in two separate crashes into terminal buildings at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, CBS Detroit, FOX 2 Detroit and WXYZ reported. WXYZ and FOX 2 reported the top counts as assault with intent to murder, which CBS Detroit described as attempted murder. Prosecutor Kym Worthy said there is no known connection between the two cases, CBS Detroit reported. "We were all surprised when the first one happened, and equally shocked when the second one happened," she said, according to CBS Detroit.

The first crash happened just before 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2026, at the McNamara Terminal. WXYZ reported that authorities said Brian Matthew Sutton, 37, of Clinton Township, was driving erratically in the far-left lane, made a sharp turn and drove his Mercedes directly into the terminal, hitting the Delta Air Lines counter. Two Delta employees and a Transportation Security Administration employee were hit by glass and debris, and no one was seriously hurt, WXYZ reported. Prosecutors said Sutton then headed toward a TSA checkpoint before he was detained, the station reported. He is charged with three counts each of assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and felonious assault, plus malicious destruction of property over $20,000. CBS Detroit reported Worthy said the investigation took time because investigators had difficulty getting the vehicle's "black box" data.

The second crash happened at about 9:40 a.m. on May 29, 2026, at the Evans Terminal. Authorities said David Alan Chamlee, 67, of Southgate, drove erratically at high speed on the eastbound service drive, went over a curb and traveled south in the northbound lanes of Rogell Drive before making a sharp turn into the terminal, WXYZ reported. CBS Detroit reported the Cadillac SUV stopped just before a security checkpoint. Two women, one from Quaker Hill, Connecticut, and one from London, Ontario, had to escape the vehicle's path and were hit by glass and debris, WXYZ reported. CBS Detroit reported the driver told police at the time that he was there to "meet Tom Cruise and save his dad." Chamlee is charged with two counts each of assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm and felonious assault, plus malicious destruction of property over $20,000.

CBS Detroit reported both men were arraigned Monday and each was given a $100,000 bond, with probable cause conferences set for Oct. 27 and preliminary examinations for Nov. 5. FOX 2 Detroit reported Worthy declined to discuss either man's mental state or a possible motive. WXYZ reported 9,000-pound concrete barriers were installed after the first crash. "We are extremely lucky that on these two days neither terminal was crowded with people and that massive numbers of people were not injured or killed," Worthy said in a statement, according to WXYZ. Attorneys for the two men had not been reported. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.