Va. neighbor shoots down drone flying near Robert Duvall's property

THE PLAINS, Va. - Drone owners beware! A Virginia woman took swift action recently to protect her famous neighbor's privacy.

Here in The Plains, Virginia, it's peaceful, beautiful and a place where people really value their privacy. But one day around late June or early July, the sight and sound of a drone ruined all of that.

Jennifer Youngman was on her porch cleaning her shotgun when she spotted the drone flying over her neighbor's property and even scaring the livestock. Actor Robert Duvall owns hundreds of acres across the street from Youngman.

“I think people should respect his privacy when he is on his land,” she said. “He is a national treasure to this country.”

When the drone came back towards Youngman’s house, she said it was time to protect her neighbor's privacy and she took aim at the drone like she has with a skeet many times before.

“It started to come down and that is when I picked it up and I came over here and raised my shotgun and blasted it out of the sky,” she described.

With just one blast from that shotgun, the drone was blown up into many pieces and fell from the sky onto a nearby field. The two people Youngman believes were flying the drone started walking up the street towards the house, but she told them they could not trespass onto the property and she was going to call the police. She also was holding her large shotgun.

“It did get them to turn around, and with haste, get out here,” she said.

Youngman has not seen them again and there was never a police complaint filed.

From the remains of destroyed drone, Youngman said she recycled the plastic that came from it.

Youngman said she doesn’t know her famous neighbor that well. She knows he lives in town and sees him at a restaurant, but she also told us, “You need to give people their space.”