KIRO Newsradio obtains video as mysterious drones reach Western Washington

On the heels of an ongoing drone scare in New Jersey where federal and government officials are investigating multiple reports of drones, some the size of a small car, flying over military bases and various infrastructure, dozens of people across the Puget Sound region have claimed they’ve also seen drones flying around at night.

Around 500 recent comments on Reddit were posted with claims of seeing drones. One person claimed they saw a drone the size of a car between 45th Street and Northgate Mall. Another said they spotted a drone in Ballard. Others claimed to have seen drones over Tacoma, Gig Harbor and across parts of the Kitsap Peninsula.

One video floating around social media shows what appears to be up to 10 drones flying in formation over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge at night.

@humannamee Mystery drones resembling the ones from NJ, flying over Tacoma, Washington 12/11/24. This was recorded by my boyfriend in Tacoma, while I was in Sumner recording low flying ones. They went over Tacoma, Fife, South Hill, Puyallup, Sumner, and Boney Lake: from what we could see and follow. I gave an online tip to the FBI and was contacted an hour later about what we both saw. We did not get any information, I just anwsered a few basic questions about where we saw them. The drone above my house flew so low I could clearly see what it was; they are not planes. #drones #seattle #washingtondrones #tacoma #mysterydrones ♬ original sound – 🌞

Since mid-November, there have been dozens of drones spotted flying at night over military installations in New Jersey. The U.S. Northern Command said it was “aware and monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey,” including near the Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, reports Business Insider.

KIRO Newsradio obtains video of what appears to drones

One video captured by a New Jersey police officer, obtained by KIRO Newsradio, shows what appears to be a larger drone, flying at a slow speed, shoot out or launch multiple smaller drones at a relatively high speed.

“That’s the first thing that comes to mind is they’re releasing or triggering something to release other payloads whether it be smaller surveillance,” Drone Expert and Lead Editor at Glazer’s Camera, Crispy Harrison, said.

Glazer’s is a Seattle-based well-known camera store that sells drones and other high-end equipment to commercial businesses across the country.

KIRO Newsradio asked Harrison for his explanation of the recent drone activity.

“From the people that I know in the drone community that do a lot of industrial and agricultural flying, it’s leaning more toward a private company that’s doing their own research and development and probably flying when they’re not supposed to and not registering those drones with the FAA,” Harrison said.

Drones were also reported to have swarmed near a U.S. Coast Guard ship off the Jersey coast and local police in the state said they have reports of drones flying around critical infrastructure like water reservoirs and train stations.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey told Fox News, “Iran launched a mothership, probably about a month ago, that contains these drones.” However, Pentagon officials challenged those comments explaining there is no Iranian ship off the coast of the U.S.

The FBI said Friday many of the reported drone sightings were lawfully operated manned aircraft, while White House spokesperson John Kirby said, “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”

More and more state and federal lawmakers are asking various federal agencies for better explanations about recent drone activity in order to calm any fears among the public.

Harrison hopes more video footage will help answer some of the many questions floating around social media and neighborhoods from New Jersey to the Pacific Northwest.

“Hopefully there will be more videos out that are more clear,” Harrison said. “Because I don’t think it’s the mothership.”

Luke Duecy is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Luke’s stories here. Follow Luke on X, or email him here.