A fed-up New Jersey sheriff said he tried to track the mystery drones swarming the skies above his county — but they “easily” evaded the effort.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s office sent its own “industrial grade” drone into the air Thursday in a bid to follow one of 50 unmanned aerial vehicles a local cop saw “coming off the ocean,” Sheriff Michael Mastronardy said.
The officer alerted the state police, the FBI and the US Coast Guard. Coast Guard officials then reported 13 drones, with wingspans of eight feet, following one of their vessels.
The mysterious drones, which don’t give off heat like more typical versions, swiftly maneuvered out of their clutches, Mastronardy told News Nation reporter Rich McHugh.
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McHugh told the story Friday night to anchor Elizabeth Vargas, explaining he originally thought the drone hysteria might be a result of “pranksters” until he saw them himself.
“If this is not our military, then it’s even more scary,” McHugh said. “These things look like they are fixed-wing and they have multiple lights. I’m not really sure how to process what I saw last night. Both the photographer and I were kind of stunned.”
The SUV-sized, unidentified aircraft have been buzzing New Jersey and panicking residents since Nov. 18.
Theories about where the drones come from vary, with some believing they may have been sent by foreign adversaries.
On Friday, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said there was nothing to fear and that people may be imagining things. He said most reports were likely to be cases where manned aircraft were mistaken for drones.
Since then drones have been sighted in at least 12 counties in New Jersey as well as parts of eastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York.