'Intentional, willful and malicious': 40K without power after substation attacks in Moore County

[NullTuples]

Source: Fayetteville Observer

(Moore County, North Carolina)

Moore County residents are under a curfew Sunday night and for the foreseeable future as Duke Energy responds to a targeted attack on two substations that knocked out power to thousands of customers and could take days to repair, officials said at a press conference Sunday afternoon. The county has also declared a state of emergency.

Sheriff Ronnie Fields said gunshots were fired at the substations taking out the power first in Carthage about 7 p.m. then shortly thereafter when a second substation was attacked, spreading to the greater majority of the county. More than 40,000 customers were without power.

A Duke Energy representative said the repair includes the replacement of substantial equipment.

"Unlike perhaps a storm where you can go in and reroute power somewhere else, that was not an option in this case, so repair has to be complete; in many cases, some of that equipment will have to be replaced," said spokesman Jeff Brooks. "Recognizing that we are looking at a pretty sophisticated repair with some pretty large equipment and so we do want citizens of the town to be prepared that this will be a multi-day restoration for most customers extending potentially as long as Thursday."

Read more: https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/crime/2022/12/04/moore-county-power-outage-investigated-as-vandalism/69699328007/

---

"Fields said Sunday that state and federal investigators are looking into protesters of a Saturday drag queen show at Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines, but that so far they have not been able to make that connection. Earlier in the day Saturday, protesters had gathered outside the theater, upset about a drag show planned for the small venue later that night. On her Facebook page, Emily Grace Rainey, an outspoken opponent of the drag show, posted an invitation to the protest at the theater. After the lights went out out, Rainey, who became known in Moore County during the pandemic for her opposition to mask mandates, posted on Facebook that, “The power is out in Moore County and I know why.” Later, she posted that the Moore County Sheriff’s Office had come to her house to ask about the outage.

From: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article269579392.html#storylink=cpy"

Because at this point the motive is not known (and it could be unconnected to the drag show), this does not fit the definition of Domestic Terrorism per the FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/fbi-dhs-domestic-terrorism-definitions-terminology-methodology.pdf/view

[AllaN01Bear]

1. cacn you say domsestic terrorisim

[BOSSHOG]

4. It was antifa pretending to be ignorant white trash racists. Lord the redundancies

If trump does away with the constitution and stop signs and everything else then I guess it will be nonstop hootenanny. Every lunatic for himself. Republicans have always been about common sense solutions.

[IronLionZion]

6. Mental Illness

[Abolishinist]

2. Well this is interesting.

Having not a clue as to who Rainey is, I googled and found this...

https://www.thepilot.com/news/southern-pines-army-officer-facing-review-over-role-in-d-c-protests/article_554fe398-542a-11eb-8bcf-875056fd527a.html

The article is dated 1/12/2021, but at the time she was an Army Captain attached to 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg.

Emily Grace Rainey, who is known locally for protesting coronavirus restrictions and for her involvement with an anti-mask organization, helped lead a group of about 100 people from Moore County to Washington, D.C, on Jan. 6.

“'I was a private citizen and doing everything right and within my rights,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. The Pilot was unable to reach Rainey for additional comment.

Rainey, 30, is attached to 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg, according to Maj. Daniel Lessard, a spokesman for 1st Special Forces Command.

[tonekat]

14. Rainey needs to be booted

She should not be enjoying the largesse of the taxpayer since she is a kook.

[TheBlackAdder]

15. So, it seems she might be versed in PsyOps which would be terrorism if she partook.

[NullTuples]

18. That fits with the observation about the coordinated gun store robberies

"Coordinated attacks on infrastructure and the robbery of gun stores is a pattern typical of highly coordinated militias. This is a terrifying escalation in the tactics of extremists if proven to be the case. The chaos from the power outage is a perfect cover for all of this."

from: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1599464573827883008.html

which links to:

https://www.thepilot.com/news/substations-vandalized-more-than-half-of-county-without-power/article_b3b19780-7370-11ed-865d-c78d0de5d921.html

See message #4 in the thread referenced by message #11 of this thread.

[Joinfortmill]

27. Yikes! The fox is in the hen house.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

31. COURT MARTIAL THIS TERRORIST BITCH.

This is about as UnAmerican as it gets. I have ZERO tolerance for people in uniform who conducts terroristic actions on our soil.

[Abolishinist]

32. Upate: It has been reported that in June 2021,

Rainey announced on Facebook that she had resigned her commission from the Army.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

33. Not good enough.

Taking off the uniform does NOT abrogate one's responsibilities to uphold The Constitution and the laws of this Nation. Serving this country does NOT end when you take the uniform off, even for the last time.

And someone can ALWAYS be recalled to service.

[ZonkerHarris]

3. it's called terrorism

[progree]

5. the perpetrator or perpetrators of the sabotage "knew exactly what they were doing."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/major-power-outage-after-vandals-sabotage-multiple-electrical-substations/ar-AA14TGT6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ea9b83a0938d44c7b99873717b151a20

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at a news conference Sunday that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the sabotage "knew exactly what they were doing." He said multiple shots were fired at each of the damaged substations and a gate was rammed open at one of the properties to reach the target. Fields added, "this was targeted. It wasn't random."

Mike Cameron, Southern Pines' assistant town manager and fire chief, told the Raleigh News and Observer said several vehicle accidents were being blamed on the power outage, including a multiple car crash that injured several people at an intersection in Southern Pines.

"The car wreck was totally because the stop lights were out," Cameron told the News and Observer.

Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, North Carolina, also lost power and was forced to switch to its backup generator, officials said.

============================================
Electric Power Utility Substation Sabotage Megathread, Mahatmakanejeeves -- some scary past incidents and how vulnerable the grid is to sabotage
https://www.democraticunderground.com/111694722

[2naSalit]

22. +1

[usonian]

7. Russia and Iran don't have to hack the power grid. Their agents here are shooting it up.

When will certain groups be designated as domestic terrorist organizations?

[NickB79]

8. Same thing happened in California in 2014. Over 100 rounds fired

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/02/05/272015606/sniper-attack-on-calif-power-station-raises-terrorism-fears

Only they didn't succeed in taking out power, thanks to quick thinking by the local utilities.

[Javaman]

9. I fear copycat morons. nt

[Takket]

10. this is terrorism.........

pretty crazy coincidence that this shut down a drag show that the manics on the right were up in arms about. But we'll see if the police can (or want to) connect the dots.

Regardless, weapons attacks on our country's infrastructure is TERRORISM and should be treated as such.

The Feds should be working on this as well.

[icymist]

11. Related thread going on in LGBT forum

https://democraticunderground.com/113758444
The focus here is on the drag show, but also points out the looting of gun stores with their timing.

[NullTuples]

21. Thank you - that linked threadreader adds a tree of more links & info.

[Journeyman]

12. Could be the start of the "North American Troubles" . . .

[NewDayOranges]

13. Ft Bragg and Pope AFB are right there in Fayetteville...

And while I'm almost certain both have their own power grids, many of the soldiers and airmen that staff these posts live off-post in Moore County...

[obamanut2012]

24. Yup, and there are also hospitals in the area

And quite a few elderly retirees, both retired military and others.

[peppertree]

16. 'Intentional, willful and malicious'

Like the modern GOP itself.

[2naSalit]

23. +1

[Ford_Prefect]

17. This kind of assault has been discussed on alt/right forums and patri-idiot platforms in planning

for the anticipated "race war". The common thread was that such events would trigger it.

There were discussions in detail about how to achieve greatest effect. Another potential target was oil and gas distribution locations. A third commonly mentioned target was communication hubs like the one attacked in Nashville on Christmas day 2020. The overall thinking was that many of these attacks would happen at the same time throwing ordinary life into chaos and releasing social tensions leading to the "race war".

DHS, FBI and other law enforcement organizations have been on alert for this kind of domestic terror event for a number of years. Public utilities, public health agencies, along with private industry have reaction plans on file and in their training programs to deal with possible scenarios the same as they do for hurricanes.

IMO the agent provocateur is most likely reacting to the sentencing of the Oath Keepers, or TLG's weekend rave fest, the likely GOP loss in GA, or all of them. It is the kind of outrage TLG continues to attempt to trigger and the same animosity which drove the Jan. 6 assault on Congress. American ISIS lives for this apocalypse which they believe will transform America and expect to be the initiating agents as well as the primary militia engaging the forces of Antifa, Lib-Dems, the Deep State and other imaginary evils.

[NullTuples]

19. The Republicans and far right's pattern has been small tests first.

If there are more of these incidents, they may be used to fine tune their techniques and communicate to each other what works best.

Also, "TLG"...The Loser Guy?

[Ford_Prefect]

20. TLG: the last guy, the loser guy, the lamest guy. Suit yourself. Common allegory used to avoid

adding one more citation of his name online, which I hear he scores, or the internet trolls do.

Domestic terror has become more diffuse in its organization since Putin took an interest. I don't believe they have some kind of central command triggering these things. IMO they get wound up to a degree in anticipation by TLG, Breitbart, FOX and other sources.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

25. Our domestic intelligence agencies need to hire more agents

to infiltrate fascist organizations, particularly in red states, and red areas of blue states.

[The Jungle 1]

26. A very good reason to own a wood stove.

Our electric infrastructure is very soft.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

28. Newer stoves are ok, but old stove are problematic

EPA standards are measured by the weight of particulate produced by a combustion device over the course of an hour. Anything over 2.0 to 2.5 grams of particulate released over the course of an hour is considered environmentally unsound.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/california-woodburning-stove-standards-65593.html

Here in CA, we have spare the air days where you can't burn unless you have no alternative.

They encourage us to switch out for electric heating.

[The Jungle 1]

29. I think mine is ok it has a catalytic converter.

But you are correct the old ones are bad.

[Omaha Steve]

30. Kick