A man in Tupelo steals a plane and threatens to crash it into Walmart
TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – People in Tupelo and really all across and really all across North Mississippi were on high alert as the plane circled the sky.
After hours of being frightened people in Lee county can finally breathe.
“We have had a bit of an unusual circumstance this morning we had a gentleman that took an airplane from the airport and flew around for a few hours this morning,” Mayor Jordan.
Around 5 SATURDAY morning Tupelo Police and fire got a call about a plane over the all-American city.
The person in the pilot’s seat– investigators say wasn’t authorized to be flying.
” The main concern for us was the citizens in this community and the citizens of this city,” said Chief Elliott.
Investigators say Cory Patterson was able to access the plane because he’s an employee at Tupelo Aviation. Police say he’s worked there for ten years refueling aircraft.
At 5:08 Saturday Morning, investigators say Patterson called 9-1-1 and threatened to crash into Walmart on West Main Street.
Tupelo Fire Chief Kelly Elliott they shut down several streets and nearby businesses.
“When you’re not dealing with an incident scene in a defined location it makes it a little more interesting so we kind of went into a resource stand-by mode just making sure we were prepared and ready to take action if it occurred,” said Chief Elliott.
Police say Petterson even posted on Social media while in the air.
“At 9:32 the pilot posted on facebook a message and in essence, it said “Goodbye” and at this time we know he was getting close to running out of fuel,” said Chief Quaka.
30 minutes later contact with the plane was lost before it briefly came back.
Patterson told flight negotiators he didn’t know how to land the plane.
“At 10:12 a.m our negotiator reestablished contact with the pilot and the pilot confirmed that he landed in the field and was uninjured. Soon thereafter the pilot was taken into custody and is in custody currently. He is being charged with grand larceny and making terroristic threats and we do anticipate that the federal government will pursue federal charges in the near future,” said Chief Quaka.
He faces charges of Grand Larceny and making terroristic threats.
Police say Patterson will likely face Federal charges.
Stay with WCBI for updates as we learn more on this ongoing investigation.
