seven charles watson is in jackson mississippi with the latest on this, charles. hey afternoon guys. the suspect has been identified as cory patterson. please say he s facing grand larceny charges in charges of making terroristic threats with federal charges pending in connection to that plane and police that he stole and threatened to crash into a walmart. not just a short time ago we heard from tupelo police chief who tells us he is a ten year employee of tupelo aviation where he fuels the planes. police are not sure whether or not patterson had a license to pilot. but they do believe he has at least some flight experience that made it possible for him to not only possibly fueled the aircraft but to steal it and fly through as long as he did. now, you can imagine it was concerning for police when he started getting calls early this morning with people reporting a small plane flying at a low altitude. it was circling the walmart. 5:23 a.m. central time police a patterson c
pm, now scrapped because of a hydrogen leak. then there was this, pretty remarkable, slow developing drama unfolding all morning over the skies of tupelo, mississippi an ending in a cornfield. it began with the pilot threatening to crash that plane into a walmart. that is where we begin with this mississippi breaking news. the latest development we have just learned is that that plane is now down. apparently landing safely with the pilot now in police custody, after circling the skies for hours. i believe four hours total. and threatening to crash there in mississippi. it all started early this morning. people got rid of the plane, his pilot saying a planned to crash into a walmart in tupelo. that prompted evacuations from walmart. police that the pilot were apparently in by phone early on. then the plane flew this really haphazard manner for hours before coming down in that cornfield, again just minutes before we came on the air. here is part of the coverage from our affilia
from as msnbc world headquarters, welcome to alex witt reports. we begin with breaking news as we await a news conference from police in mississippi where a pilot is now in custody after threatening to crash his plane into a walmart. he circled the skies for hours and instead landed in a field in north mississippi. the faa says only the pilot was on board, no word yet confirming his identity. it started early today after the pilot took off from to pull a regional airport. the police got word that the pilot intended to crash intentionally, the walmart was closed. that plane flew haphazardly for hours before coming down in the field where police swarmed it and made the arrest. here s our affiliate as that drama unfolded. we have been able to confirm, we have at least confirmed to us that it has crashed, that does not mean they reach the crash location. one of the difficult things about figuring out something like that is just how fast the plane was moving. at its lowest poi
tupelo mississippi where the sheriff s office says a man is in custody after spinning a twin turbo propeller airplane and threatening to crash it into a local walmart, triggering an evacuation. nbc s covering the story. bring us up to date as to what we know so far, and how it is this guy managed to meant steal the plane in the first place. you know, as, minimal start with the most important thing. incredibly, there were no injuries at the end of this. which is really unbelievable when you consider the fact that for the better part of five hours he had an airplane that was circling parts of tupelo and beyond and threatening to injure people on the ground. amazingly, nobody was hurt. at the end of the five hours or so, he eventually landed in a field. he wasn t injured himself, and he was taken into custody. we ll start with the incredible way that he was able to get access to the plane. we learned during a news congress that happened 30 minutes ago, that this was an employe
this is not who we are. oh every patriotic american knows how, president biden painting the upcoming elections as the battle for the soul of the nation. more on that up. ahead leading with the breaking news in tupelo, mississippi, where a man flying a small plane is in custody, following ordeal as he left the skies saturday morning. he threatened to crash the aircraft into a walmart which led to the store becoming evacuated. the plane eventually came down. more with nbc correspondent blaine talk to us, we just heard from the officials a short time ago. whatever we learned about this individual who took this plane and perhaps as motivations here? yes, but we are learning and continuing to learn more by the hour how this unfolded and how it became unbelievably v to a peaceful and with no injuries. more about this individuals. he s 29 years old. he actually worked at that airport, in tupelo. he worked there for about a decade. he was responsible for refusing the aircraft.