Grand larceny and making terrorist threats are the charges brought against a rogue pilot who threatened to crash his aircraft into a Walmart in Tupelo, Mississippi.
At a press conference on Saturday, Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka predicted that Cory Wayne Patterson will also probably be charged at the federal level.
“Negotiators from the Tupelo Police Department made contact with the pilot and were able to convince him to not carry out this deed and to land the airplane at Tupelo airport. He was getting close to running out of fuel,” Quaka stated.
Patterson lacked the expertise to bring the aircraft down, thus the idea to land at the airfield was abandoned. Finally, he came down in a field close to Ripley, Mississippi. Patterson escaped harm.
Patterson’s reason, according to Quaka, is yet unknown, but Tupelo police will investigate it in conjunction with the FBI. Quaka stated that despite having taken flight lessons, he didn’t think Patterson was a certified pilot.
“It is an ongoing investigation. We will learn more later in the day,” Quaka mentioned.
