An airport worker who flew a stolen twin-engine plane erratically over north Mississippi for hours and threatened to crash into a Walmart store has died in a federal prison awaiting trial, federal authorities said Wednesday. The US Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that Corey Wayne Patterson, 29, was found unresponsive Monday at a federal prison in Miami. “Responding personnel immediately took life-saving measures,” the statement said. “Staff requested emergency medical services … and life-saving efforts continued. Mr. Patterson was subsequently pronounced dead” by emergency responders. The statement said no staff or other inmates were injured. Patterson had arrived at the jail in Miami on Thursday. Patterson was from Shannon, Mississippi. Before dawn on Sept. 3, he took a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air C90A from the airport in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he had a job fueling planes, police said. He circled for five hours over the stressed Mississippi before ending the flight safely in a soybean field near Ripley, Mississippi. Patterson was arrested after landing the plane and jailed on state charges of grand larceny and making terroristic threats. He was arrested Sept. 14 and indicted days later on federal charges of destroying an aircraft and threatening to destroy an aircraft, court records show. A conviction on the first charge would carry up to 20 years in prison and the second up to five years. A federal judge on Sept. 16 ordered a psychological evaluation for Patterson at the request of Patterson’s attorney. Federal court records include a handwritten note from Patterson that an FBI agent testified he found on the plane. Patterson wrote that he was tired of living, according to court records. “I chose Walmart because it would be quick and easy to evacuate. I’m not interested in hurting anyone,” the note said. Patterson also wrote that Walmart is owned by billionaires who pay workers low wages and that insurance would cover any losses for the company. During Patterson’s flight, he called 911 and said he intended to crash the plane into a Walmart in Tupelo. He urged the emergency operator to evacuate the store, according to court records. Police negotiators convinced Patterson to land, but he didn’t know how. He was guided by a private pilot to an attempted landing at the Tupelo airport, but aborted the landing at the last minute and continued the flight, authorities said. Patterson then landed the plane near Ripley, Mississippi, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Memphis, Tennessee — and about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northwest of Tupelo.
