The pilot is now in police custody
A pilot who threatened to “intentionally crash into Walmart” on West Main in Tupelo, a city in northeast Mississippi in the United states, crash landed his plane and has been taken into custody, say reports.
Police were in talks with the pilot but gave no information on the person’s identity or motive.
The pilot is reported to have stolen the small aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air 90, from Tupelo Airport. It is a nine-seater with two engines. Â
Earlier, the Tupelo Police Department asked the citizens to avoid that area until all clear is given.
Currently we have a 29yr old who stole this plane & is threatening to crash it into something. Polices ,ambulances ,& fire trucks are everywhere. Everything is shutdown rn pic.twitter.com/AzebdIa3tP
— City King (@CityKing_Gank_) September 3, 2022
“With the mobility of an airplane of that type the danger zone is much larger than Tupelo,” the police said in a statement.
All emergency services were put on alert, it said.
A map from the FlightAware website showed what appeared to be the plane’s course – an erratic, zigzag pattern centered around Tupelo, a city of about 40,000 known as the birthplace of “King of Rock and Roll” Elvis Presley.
The flight path of the pilot
“State law enforcement and emergency managers are closely tracking this dangerous situation,” Governor Tate Reeves had said earlier.
(With AFP inputs)
