Pilot threatening to crash plane into Tupelo Walmart, stores evacuated

Police in Tupelo, Mississippi said they are in contact with a pilot who is threatening to crash his plane into a Walmart store.

At 5 a.m. Saturday, Tupelo Police Department was alerted to a pilot flying over the city. The pilot made contact with 911 and police said he threatened to intentionally crash into a Walmart store on West Main Street.

Flightradar24.com is live tracking the flight. You can see that here. According to the site, the plane is currently the number one most tracked in the world.

At around 8:35 a.m., the plane was reported to be airborne north of Tupelo in the Benton/Union County, Mississippi area. There are multiple posts on Tupelo Police’s social media channels showing video and photos of the plane as it circles in the sky.

“State law enforcement and emergency managers are closely tracking this dangerous situation,” Gov. Tate Reeves wrote on Twitter. “All citizens should be on alert and aware of updates from the Tupelo Police Department.”

The Walmart store and others nearby have been evacuated and police are working to “disperse people as much as practical,” the department said in a release. They are in direct contact with the pilot and have alerted all emergency service providers in the area.

Leslie Criss, a magazine editor who lives in Tupelo, woke up early and was watching the situation on TV and social media.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in this town,” Criss told The Associated Press. “It’s a scary way to wake up on a Saturday morning.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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