Thursday night, San Diego police confirmed to NBC 7 that the military training that had been taking place all week in San Diego would be reoccur that evening, and it did not take long for locals to take to social media to share their experiences.
Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, told NBC 7 earlier this week that 100 US Army members have been conducting "coordinated, essential air & ground mobility operations and close-quarter combat training" around San Diego this week.
Thursday's operations began sometime after 9 p.m. and quickly lit up Twitter: Ed Joyce, who said he heard explosions and posted a video he said he shot near coastal La Jolla, tweeted, "Not sure what’s happening but in coastal San Diego now I hear loud explosions. And captured low-flying helicopters."
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Twitter user Big Red said he thought a war had begun:
Local
Meanwhile, twitterer Maximus Davenport was over in Clairemont and captured audio of what sounded like explosions in the distance:
Tony Ding posted a video on Twitter that he said he captured in downtown:
Facebook users were quick to note the training as well.
"What’s going on in San Diego? Low flying helicopters, strange unexplained lights in the sky, explosions … something weird is happening," Michael Fuller posted.
Tavo Vega was unsure what was happening and wasn't happy about it, he posted on his Facebook page.
Not everybody who was spooked by the military exercises took to their phones, of course.
Sarah Ormond has lived in her downtown apartment for nine years.
"I was so freaked out, I called 911," Ormond told NBC 7 on Friday. "It was the scariest thing I’ve ever lived through. Honest to God.”
Ormond said the she saw helicopters flying between buildings beneath the 14th floor of her apartment building where she lives "with no lights on, but every time they turned over the stadium, the lights came on.”
Jaime Webb lives downtown on J Street near 9th Avenue. At first, he thought what he was seeing was a drone.
"We've never seen that before — definitely seen a lot of crazy stuff, but never helicopters zooming through the buildings,” Webb said, adding later, "once I knew what it was, it was cool to see, but, yeah, it was a little scary.”
The Exercises Earlier This Week
The first and loudest boom this week came around 10:08 p.m. Tuesday night. Around that time, low-flying aircraft could be seen flying around Serra Mesa, including near the NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 studios on Granite Ridge Drive.
San Diego Police Department Lt. Adam Sharki confirmed the loud explosions heard across central San Diego took place near the now-closed Fry's Electronics building in Serra Mesa.
Army training consists of air and ground mobility operations and close-quarter combat training in realistic environments to better train soldiers, according to Burns.
"Training off of a military installation offers more realism and greater training value," added Burns.
"Safety precautions are in place to protect participants, along with planning considerations to minimize impact to the community," Burns said.
Burns added that the training was coordinated with appropriate officials.
On Friday, Burns said the training had been completed and offered a follow-up statement that read, in part:
"The training consisted of air and ground mobility operations and close-quarter combat training to enhance soldiers’ skills by operating in a realistic environment. Different environments provide new and different training experiences. Training off of a military installation offers more realism and greater training value. Safety precautions were in place to protect participants, and planning considerations were taken to minimize impact to the community.."
