Can you shoot down the mysterious drones spotted over Staten Island?

New York’s Staten Island. Someone might want to shoot one down to investigate the mysterious phenomenon of car-sized drones haunting the night sky of Staten Island.

A few words of advise if you find yourself thinking about giving in to that temptation: Please don’t.

In addition to the fact that shooting down an aerial drone is illegal under federal law, the massive size of these drones might cause accidents or major injuries when they fall from the sky.

You can’t mess with it. WarrenUAS unmanned drone program developer and president of Warren County Community College Will Austin told Advance/SILive.com sister site NJ.com, “You can’t take it out of the sky.” It is illegal for you to shoot at it, even if it is above your property.

Furthermore, according to NJ.com, a lot of drones use lithium in some form, such as a lithium polymer battery, which can ignite or explode if struck by a bullet.

“Those fires are difficult to put out, and you could end up accidentally burning your house down,” Austin continued.

Despite the fact that it is illegal to fly drones in New York City at night, there still seem to be a lot of drones operating throughout New Jersey and Staten Island.

According to NJ.com, FBI agents in New Jersey are investigating incidents in the adjacent state that New Jersey police started looking into on November 18.

Police have received reports regarding drones in Morris County’s Chester, Randolph, Rockaway, Morris Plains, Dover, Parsippany, Mendham Borough, Mendham Township, and Morristown. According to NJ.com, reports have also been made to authorities in Warren County and Somerset County villages of Hillsborough and Branchburg.

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Walter Ziegler, a former Air Force Sergeant from New Springville, told the Advance/SILive.com that he used binoculars to observe some of the drones from his apartment complex.

According to his description, they have a red light on either side and a white light in the middle. He estimates that the drone’s span is roughly fifteen feet long. He claimed that they were all stringing out and that they were within a mile or less of his apartment.

He saw no more than five or six in one case.

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