A drone fell from the sky and crashed into a New Jersey homeowner's backyard Thursday night, authorities confirmed — an unexplained phenomenon that continues to shock residents of the Garden State.
The plane crashed into a residential area in Pequannock Township, Morris County, around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, according to police and audio reports.
The Pequannock Police Department told the Post that authorities determined the aircraft was a “hobby or toy type drone” and “not a large commercial or military grade drone.”
This comes after New Jersey State Police warned of the possibility of “copycat criminals.”
“What we think is that what started out as some kind of Picatinny Arsenal surveillance exercise or operation, and then exploded online, turned into a copycat situation.” one Garden State police chief theorized.
The US Army's Weapons Research, Development and Technology Center is located at the Picatinny Arsenal and is one of the locations where several mysterious drone sightings have been reported, causing concern.
As a highly secure facility that develops and tests new bombs, guns, ammunition and combat equipment for all branches of the military, it is a target for espionage by foreign adversaries.
Residents had trash cans out when The Post arrived at the crash scene Thursday night but declined to comment.
But as paranoia gripped the state, the mayor rushed to the scene after receiving reports of a crash in a homeowner's backyard.
Pequannock Mayor Ryan Hurd investigated the accident scene himself in a Ford Econoline work van.
Hurd told the Post it was “definitely” not one of the giant car-sized drones allegedly hovering overhead.
He said he was “absolutely” concerned.No one knows whose drone is flying over us, why it is flying over us, or where it will take off and land. ”
“Drones are flying over our house, which is our private property. My family is here,” he added.
The Morris County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, less than an hour later, there was a second report of a downed drone that crashed into power lines in nearby Randolph Township.
The Morris County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the report was found to be unfounded.
In a follow-up call Friday morning, Hurd urged residents not to chase, shoot or attempt to capture large drones.
“You can't deploy Class 1 and Class 2 drones to track these drones. You can't have something happen and hit a large drone and the large drone crashes into a house and kills six people. “That's just not acceptable – that's going to be a problem,” he said.
Local officials told the Post that many of the sightings in more remote areas were either civilian copycats flying their own drones or people flying planes, helicopters or satellites. It is possible that it was mistaken for a UFO.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration received reports of drone activity near Morris County, New Jersey, and conducted drone flights over President-elect Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey golf course and the Picatinny Arsenal military base. was temporarily prohibited.
The FAA said the ban was in response to requests from “federal security partners.”
White House National Security Council Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters Thursday that federal law enforcement authorities have not verified any of the more than 3,000 reports of car-sized drones patrolling the night sky in recent weeks. He said it has not been done.
Pentagon officials said they do not believe the drones are foreign assets.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said earlier this week that the aircraft was “very sophisticated” and would “go black on sight,” but said the device did not pose a threat to public safety. He promised residents that he would not.
Murphy said New Jerseyans shouldn't shoot them out of the sky, but welcomed federal authorities to bring them down for study, NJ.com reported.
