Sanford’s Ashley Owens, while on a weekend getaway with her family in Holden Beach south of Wilmington, shot a picture of the U.S. government shooting down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that made its way from Montana to the coast over the last few days.
According to CNN, a U.S. military fighter jet shot down the balloon at 2:38 p.m. Saturday over the Atlantic Ocean. According to reports, President Joe Biden approved of the operation over water “as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path.”
Ashley Owens, wife of The Rant’s Jonathan Owens, shot the photo with her phone while among several bystanders who were watching it all unfold in real time.
“They went to the beach I stayed at the house because I’m lazy,” Jonathan Owens said. “They noticed everyone looking at the sky then saw it themselves. Pretty wild.”
The internet has been having fun with the balloon’s demise ever since.
I'VE BEEN SHOT
— Chinese Balloon 🎈 (@seizethewhiskey) February 4, 2023
RIP Chinese Spy Balloon. Never forget. #ChineseSpyBalloon pic.twitter.com/949Vk7ryaz
— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) February 4, 2023
"That's no balloon…. it's a space station!" pic.twitter.com/71AIghjgvs
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) February 4, 2023
BREAKING: Beyoncé and Jay Z have successfully shot down the Chinese Balloon pic.twitter.com/d5m97iHidE
— RENAISSANCE Updates 🪩 (@B7Album) February 4, 2023
RIP Chinese spy balloon pic.twitter.com/Z5hYdwGCFK
— Nick Psmith (@PsmithNick) February 4, 2023
Way to go Joe! Wait three days before taking ANY decisive action to shoot down a balloon, and use it under the guise of protecting American lives! Pathetic excuse for a President, but all the Leftists in the world will hail him as a hero for his actions, and cry “it was done when it was safe.” Congrats Joe, you took out a balloon.Inflation is completely out of control, Racism that YOU created is at an all time high. All hope in America is lost because YOU and your administration don’t give a damn about anyone but yourselves, but you took out a balloon. Make sure you pass along the cost of the operation to average taxpayer in this county. It’s the least we can do since you and your followers think we should pay for the students loans as well. Just wondering if Giggles asked to see a Venn Diagram for the operation before it was approved. The entire administration running the country absolutely sucks, and every single Democrat in the world is to blame for this debacle of government!
China already got everything they needed before it was shot down.
I heard from a reliable source that there were concerns that China, knowing we would shoot down the balloon, filled it with a highly contagious virus that would have spread all over the United States in a matter of hours.
Dark Brandon wins again.
Suck it mouth-breathers.
**No Americans were hurt in the making of this reply**
Joe Biden created racism. Today I learned. Thank you Sanford!