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

[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/

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"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