U.S. Secret Service says someone confessed to flying a drone that crashed onto the White House grounds early Monday morning.

According to officials, a small drone was spotted flying low to the ground before it made a crash landing onto the southeast side of the White House around 3 a.m. Monday. The person operating the flying device then called the U.S. Secret Service to "self-report" their involvement in the incident.

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary released a statement Monday afternoon saying that the individual was fully cooperative with Secret Service agents.

"Initial indications are that this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device," Leary said, reports CNN.

The incident occurred at 3:08 a.m. when a Secret Service agent "heard and observed a 'quad copter' device, approximately two feet in diameter, flying at a very low altitude and ultimately crashing on the southeast side of the complex," USA Today reports.

The White House was then placed on a lockdown shortly thereafter.

"There was an immediate alert and lockdown of the complex until the device was examined and cleared," the Secret Service said in a statement. Officials also took measures to close off the perimeter around the White House.

Leary said that the Secret Service will continue to investigate the incident through "corroborative interviews, forensic examinations and reviews of all other investigative leads."

A piece of the unmanned aircraft landed in a tree in the southeast corner of the White House grounds, said a government official on condition of anonymity.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were in India when the incident happened. However, officials did not say whether Sasha and Malia Obama were at the White House at that time.

"The early indications are that it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat to anybody at the White House," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest while speaking with reporters in India, according to Yahoo! News.