Chinese student is kidnapped and beaten by US pilot who wanted to send him ‘back to China’, police say
Shi Tianshu was attending a California flight school on a student visa. Police have not explained why he was singled out by a pair of instructors who tried to send him ‘back to China’
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 flight training school in Redding, California, belonging to IASCO, which calls itself “the aviation industry’s preeminent flight crew leasing and training company”.
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 alleged victim 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 him.
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, but say the two returned to the apartment around dawn on Friday to carry out their would-be deportation.