Eyes were locked on the Carolina skies Saturday as the suspected Chinese spy balloon that traversed the U.S. over the past week drifted over the Atlantic Ocean and was shot down by a fighter jet.
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a crowd lining the beach boardwalk cheered as the balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter. The balloon quickly deflated and plummeted to the ocean.
“That’s my Air Force right there, buddy!” a person exclaims just after the missile’s impact, in a video taken by tourist Angela Mosley.
“I came out of the store and looked up and there were fighter jets circling and then the balloon’s there,” Mosley said. “One of the fighter jets gets going fast and gets closer to it, and then we heard a boom and we knew it was gone.”
Mosley said no boats appeared to be in the water beneath the balloon as the wreckage fell, but she said several aircraft arrived soon after. U.S. officials tried to time the operation so they could recover as much debris as possible before it sinks.
