BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – It was almost like a scene from a ‘Mission Impossible’ movie on Boynton Beach, Friday morning.
A subscale drone from the U.S. Air Force that is used as an aerial target during weapons training washed ashore.
Cellphone video provided to Local 10 News shows an officer shouting to bystanders to get back because he thought there was a bomb on the beach.
“I saw it coming down from my car and he comes running back up and he’s like, ‘Hey, there’s a bomb on the beach or there’s a missile on the beach.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’” one beachgoer, Jeremiah Gonzales, said.
Air Force Lt. Savanah Bray later confirmed to Local 10 News that it was actually a BQM-167a drone that was likely shot down two to three months ago.
Crews quickly cleared the portion of Boynton Beach on Oceanfront Park to make sure the drone was stable. Oceanfront police were called in to investigate what it was.
“It’s a drone, so it is fuel, ok, and they were concerned about the fact that it is a piece of military equipment and there’s fuel in it. That’s why we went through our protocols to make sure there was nothing that was going to hard anybody,” said Chief Hal Hutchins, Ocean Ridge Police.
Air Force officials transported the drone from the site where it was found, to be examined.
It’s unclear where the drone was shot down and why officials were not able to locate it in the first place.