Shi Tianshu was at the California flight school on a student visa and police did not know why he was singled out
California police say they thwarted a vigilante deportation attempt last week – in which a pilot allegedly kidnapped a foreign student, took him to an airport and tried to send him “back to China.”
Jonathan McConkey, a pilot and certified flight instructor, is accused of orchestrating the kidnapping with his assistant, Kelsi Hoser, a ground instructor. Both reportedly worked at the IASCO flight training school in Redding, California.
Among IASCO’s students were dozens of Chinese nationals with student visas, according to court records. KRCR News 7 reported that the school contracted with China’s civil aviation authority to train its new pilots, one of whom was apparently Shi Tianshu.
Shi told reporters that he had been in the United States for about seven months – living with several other IASCO trainees at an apartment in Redding. It was there, police said, that McConkey and Hoser came for the student.
The pair first showed up at the apartment on Thursday night, according to a police statement. They allegedly informed Shi that they were sending him back to China and would return in the morning.
Police have not explained why anyone would want Shi gone from the country.
Police say the two returned to Shi’s apartment around dawn on Friday to carry out their would-be deportation.
