Chief John Quaka of Tupelo Police Department Gives a Chronological Breakdown of What Happened with Stolen Plane

EXCERPT:

QUAKA: “Hey, good afternoon. I’m John Quaka with the Tupelo Police Department. I have for you today a short bullet point chronological list of events of what we know to this point. It is an ongoing investigation and we will learn more later on another day. At 5:08 A.M. this morning, Cory Wayne Patterson stole a Beechcraft King Air C90 twin-engine aircraft and took off from the Tupelo airport today. We do know Patterson has some flight instructions. We do not believe he is a licensed pilot. That is still ongoing to discover that. He is an employee of Tupelo aviation and has been for 10 years, so he has access to these aircraft. He is a lineman for Tupelo aviation, which means he fuels the aircraft. We do know that that aircraft was fully fueled the night before. At approximately 5:23 A.M., Patterson from the aircraft calls Lee County 911 to tell them that he is going to crash this aircraft into the West Main Walmart in Tupelo, Mississippi. Soon thereafter, the Tupelo police department and fire department evacuated West Main Walmart in Tupelo and all the surrounding areas. We were assisted by Lee County S.O. Numerous major streets in Tupelo were shut down to help save lives during this critical incident.”