GAUTIER, Mississippi -- A Gautier woman told police she was injured when a drone flew over her home and dropped a tiny anchor on her.

The report has police investigating and neighborhood vigilantes promising to shoot down the drone, which remained at large as of Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s spreading like wildfire through the neighborhood,” Gautier police chief Danny Selover said of the bizarre incident. “Now everbody’s talking about shooting it down and that’s discharging a firearm in the city limits. We don’t want things going heywire.”

Police responded to a report of a medical emergency on Periwinkle Drive Monday about 7:30 p.m. Upon arrival, officers learned an adult female had been injured. Further questioning revealed the woman had been struck by a small, decorative anchor, measuring about three inches by five inches. Selover said the anchor was made of metal and weighed about a pound.

The woman advised officers a drone had flown over her home and dropped the decorative item, striking her on the arm. She was transported to Ocean Springs Hospital for treatment. No suspects have been identified, but Selover said officers are actively working the case.

“You never know,” Selover said, “It could be somebody with a screw loose trying to hurt people.”

Selover was asked what the exact charge would be for attacking someone with a decorative anchor dropped from a drone.

“To be an assault, you have to have intent, that they did it on purpose,” he noted. “We actually reached out to the district attorney’s office to get their opinion and they said the same thing -- there has to be intent.”

Anyone with information on this case or the whereabouts of the rogue drone is asked to call the Gautier Police Department at 228-497-2486.

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