Shooter Claims Drone 'Went Over My Airspace'

A homeowner in Faquier County in northern Virginia west of Washington, D.C. used a .20 guage shotgun to take down a drone that had strayed over her property a few weeks ago.

The Faquier Times reports that shooter is Jennifer Youngman. One of her neighbors in the rural county near the nation's capital is actor Robert Duvall, who bought the property next to Youngman's several years ago.

Youngman told the paper that she had been sitting on the front porch of her home cleaning a .410 guage and the .20 guage shotguns in mid-June when she noticed a black Range Rover SUV pull up in front of Duvall's property, set up a card table, and launch the aircraft. Youngman said the cows were being disturbed from the aircraft. Then, she said, the aircraft got going a little too fast, the wind caught it, and it "went over my airspace," Youngman said. That's when she brought the .20 guage into play, and the drone did not win that contest.

She said the men yelled at her, but when she threatened to call police, they got back in their vehicle and left.

Youngman said her only regret is that there are still drone parts in her pasture that have caused two flat tires on her tractor. She said the neighbors have laughed about the incident, speculating that the operators were some kind of paparazzi hoping to get a photo of Duvall, whom she describes as "a really nice man."

There was no report of charges being filed against Youngman for shooting at an aircraft.

FMI: www.fauquiercounty.gov/government/departments-h-z/sheriff-s-office