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By Natasha Bertrand and Haley Britzky, CNN
(CNN) — US F-16 fighter jets scrambled Sunday to respond to an aircraft that ultimately crashed in southwest Virginia, according to a US official.
It’s not clear if the aircraft violated restricted airspace near Washington, DC, or if there was an emergency on board.
The F-16s did not shoot down the aircraft that crashed, the official said.
The military aircraft caused a sonic boom heard across the Washington, DC, metropolitan region.
“We are aware of reports from communities throughout the National Capital Region of a loud ‘boom’ this afternoon,” DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management said on Twitter.
There is no threat at this time, the agency added.
Earlier, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that a Cessna Citation crashed in southwest Virginia Sunday.
The aircraft took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and was bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in New York.
The plane crashed into a mountainous terrain in a “sparsely populated area”, according to FAA.
The City of Annapolis Office of Emergency Management said the sound “was caused by an authorized DOD flight. This flight caused a sonic boom.”
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Philip Wang and Rashard Rose contributed to this report.
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