According to DroneUp employees, the drone was operating at legal altitudes and was not capturing video of residential properties.
I doubt that second part.
These drones are not navigating with GPS alone. They have cameras to see their surroundings.
The article said the drone was hovering near his lake county home. It’s possible DroneUp called the police when they found their downed drone with a bullet hole in it and the police asked around about gun shot noises. It’s more likely that the drone had captured video footage of the man shooting it and DroneUp sent them directly to his property.
That doesn’t mean what DroneUp was doing was illegal, but they’re deceiving us about the privacy implications of their service. I’m pretty sure you can record video of peoples’ property from a helicopter, it’s just not common due to the expense. Drones are much cheaper.
If you want to take a drone out you need something the drone can’t detect. I remember reading about directed EMP weapons that could fry their electronics. If you could fire one of those from a concealed location you wouldn’t have the police showing up at your door afterwards. A drone would clearly see a laser and the burn mark would point also to your general direction.