Locals Watch as Pilot Threatening to Crash Circles Over Tupelo
A pilot threatening to crash an airplane into a store in Mississippi, is an employee at Tupelo Regional Airport, local media reported police as saying on Saturday, September 3.
In a Facebook post, the Tupelo Police Department said the pilot was threatening to crash the airport into a Walmart store on West Main Street in Tupelo.
The department said it was in direct contact with the pilot, and had worked with the store to evacuate people and disperse them “as much as possible.”
“With the mobility of an airplane of that type the danger zone is much larger than even Tupelo,” the department said, adding that it may be a Beechcraft King Air turboprop aircraft.
Data on a flight tracking website showed the plane was a Beech C90A King Air registered to a private owner. The plane departed from Tupelo Regional Airport at 5:33 am local time on September 3, landed at 6:31, and left again at 7:45, according to the data.
Video posted to social media by Sommer Burnett showed the aircraft circling as locals watch on.
This is a developing story. Credit: Sommer Burnett via Storyful
Video Transcript
- No it's been a circle of this.
- And he's getting lower and lower.
- Wait, it's-- it's in a-- it's in our area.
- Mm-hmm.
- And just makes almost a complete circle here for-- constantly. Like you said, it's been up since 5 o'clock in the air. Well, how long does one of them have fuel? I mean, they can probably going four, five hours, [INAUDIBLE].
Can be. I guess it's a man. They-- they don't know?
- Man.
- Crazy white boy, I'll bet you.
- I don't think too many Black people know how to fly.
- Especially not in this area. Oh.
- He's right on top.
- He right on top of our house. He literally flew over everything. So there's all the vehicles and the house. We need to load up.
