Drones now spotted in north Texas

WHITE SETTLEMENT – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram says White Settlement police are investigating multiple reports of drones in the area, including near federal and military properties, on Tuesday night, police said. Officers started responding around 8:15 p.m. on Dec. 17, White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook said in a post on X. They saw drones flying near North Las Vegas Trail, Silver Creek Road and Bomber Road. White Settlement is located near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. Police coordinated with security personnel at the local military and federal properties in an attempt to find the drones’ pilot or pilots, Cook said. Multiple drones were reported in the same area shortly before 9 p.m. and again around 10:20 p.m. Areas “near federal and military properties are ‘NO FLY ZONES’ due to being a military operation area in the national airspace,” Cook said in the post.

Mystery drones recently seen in the skies over New Jersey and other states on the east coast have sparked numerous conspiracy theories on social media. As of Monday, Dec. 16, the FBI has received tips of more than 5,000 drone sightings, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement. “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast,” officials said in the statement. According to Cook’s post, the White Settlement Police Department is working with the FBI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations to determine who was operating the drones and their flight trajectories. Officials don’t believe the drones presented an immediate threat, but Cook said it was concerning because they were operating near federal and military properties, which are considered no-fly zones.