A pilot who threatened to “intentionally crash” into a Walmart in Tupelo, Mississippi, Saturday morning was taken into custody hours later after landing the plane in a field.
The pilot, identified by police as Cory Wayne Patterson, stole the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 from the Tupelo Regional Airport around 5:30 a.m.
The police department had warned residents to evacuate the Walmart and the nearby area. A Walmart spokesperson said the store was closed and fully evacuated. "The pilot did not have experience to land the aircraft," the police chief said."A private pilot assisted us in helping this pilot complete this, however, it was not completed. Upon final approach, the pilot aborted the landing and traveled in a northwest direction away from Tupelo toward Union, Tippah and Benton county."At around 9:30 a.m. Patterson posted a message on Facebook"and in essence, it said goodbye," according to Quaka.
"I believe that after the initial threat, he did not want to hurt himself or anyone else. And I believe that we had what you would think would be the best case scenario," Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan said at the news conference.
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