Broward

F-15s Cause ‘Sonic Boom' Heard, Felt in Portions of Broward County

A pair of Air Force F-15s caused a 'sonic boom' Friday night as they rushed to intercept an unresponsive general aviation aircraft near Palm Beach County.

Federal Aviation Administration officials say the fighter jets departed from the Homestead Air National Guard Base at supersonic speeds, which shook residents in portions of Broward County, to get to the unresponsive aircraft where they were able to establish communications.

As a result of the loud boom, panicked residents started calling 911 and social media lit up. City officials had to put out alerts saying that there is no danger or emergency.

"Loud bang over Weston- military planes observed- likely broke sound barrier. President is in South Florida and is escorted by military," wrote City of Weston in a tweet.

Broward Sheriff's Office was only able to say that the deafening noise was military planes heading to Palm Beach County and did not pose any threat to the public.

According to Federal Aviation Administration sources, an aircraft was flying 100 miles north of Palm Beach County traveling rapidly towards the Trump no-fly zone. At least one jet was scrambled from the Homestead Airbase towards that plane, which was potentially violating the air space.  The F-15 fighter was the plane that caused the sonic boom.

It is unclear if the 30 miles radius of the no fly-zone was violated. FAA and military are investigating the incident.

"People running with their kids in their strollers thinking this is the end," said Evanan Romerio.

We spoke to the team at Performance Edge Dance Studio in Weston who were so frightened that they briefly went on lockdown.

"All of a sudden you know, the whole room just shook like an explosion went off and you know our lights everything started swinging," said studio owner Jennifer Peruyero. "The glasses impacted. I shut down the lights back here. I put them all in the front and we went on a lockdown until we heard what was going on."

The dancers are happy it was a false alarm-- but they definitely don't want to relive this experience.

"Hopefully that never happens again because I had a lot of scared little girls," Peruyero said.

Many were thankful it wasn't worse, but are still shaken up over this loud noise in their normally quiet neighborhood.

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