White House ‘Can’t Confirm’ If US Shot Down Hobbyist Balloon

Both the White House and U.S. military officials are not sure whether the military shot down a hobbyist balloon last week after the group said that one of its pico balloons went missing.
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade said earlier this week that one of its balloons went missing and was last detected at around 12:48 a.m. UTC on Feb. 11 near the coast of Alaska near Hagemeister Island. That’s located hundreds of miles from Deadhorse, near where U.S. officials say an F-22 jet shot down an unknown object at the same time.
The club’s balloon traveled for 123 days and 18 hours of flight before it disappeared. “For now, we are calling Pico Balloon K9YO Missing in Action,” the club’s website stated, although it did not make any claims that the military took down the balloon amid heightened tensions with China over a suspected spy balloon that was shot down days earlier….}