As public concern continues to escalate over drones flying above New Jersey and other parts of the tri-state, there is a new warning from law enforcement to those thinking of taking certain actions: Don't shoot the drones out of the sky.
"Putting someone else’s life in danger is not the answer," said Nelson Delgado, of the FBI's Newark office.
The urgent warning from the FBI and New Jersey State Police follows an alarming number of instances involving people shining lasers into the eyes of manned aircraft mistaken for drones. The powerful lights from people on the ground can be dangerously blinding.
And when coupled with new concerns that someone could try to take it a step further and shoot a pilot-operated aircraft mistaken for a drone, there could be catastrophic results.
"It could cost them both medical harm and incredible safety problems for the rest of the population on the ground and potentially anybody on the aircraft," said NBC News National Security Analyst Clint Watts.
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The warning comes as questions continue floating around the tri-state about the origin of the drones, specifically if the surge of drones are connected to radioactive material the feds said was lost in transit in New Jersey earlier in December.
Members of the House Intelligence Committee ruled that out following a classified intelligence briefing Tuesday afternoon.
“We were assured, and we asked this question over and over and over again. They are not federal government operations to sniff radiation, gas recovery, anything else," said Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut.
Officials have said there is no reason to believe any laws or being broken or public safety is at risk. Experts say anyone looking to target what they believe are unmanned aircrafts in the sky should seriously understand what they’re looking at.
"Is it stationary or moving very slowly, left and right or inverse? That’s very different from an aircraft for the most part. It could be a helicopter but usually you would hear noise," said Watts.
There have been 5,000 reported drone sightings in the last few weeks. The federal government is seriously looking into about 100 of them.
