An extensive power outage affecting about 40,000 customers in North Carolina’s Moore County is being investigated as a “criminal occurrence” after crews found signs of potential vandalism at several locations, authorities said.
Several communities across the county began experiencing power outages just after 7 p.m. Saturday, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
“As utility companies began responding to the different substations, evidence was discovered that indicated that intentional vandalism had occurred at multiple sites,” the sheriff’s office said.
At least two substations were vandalized “with criminal intent,” US Rep. Richard Hudson said Sunday morning in a release.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are responding to the incident, according to Hudson. He said the motive remains unknown.
Hudson, whose congressional district includes Moore County, said the Southern Pines Police Department has opened a community center for residents to charge devices.
CNN has reached out to Southern Pines police and the FBI. Moore County officials have scheduled a press conference for 4 p.m. Sunday.
More than 38,000 customers were without power across the county Sunday morning, according to the Duke Energy outage map. According to poweroutage.us, about 41,000 customers had lost power in Moore County and neighboring Hoke County.
Crews were experiencing “multiple equipment failures” that are affecting substations in Moore County, Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks told CNN affiliate WRAL.
“We are also investigating signs of potential vandalism related to the outages,” Brooks said.
Deputies and officers from other law enforcement agencies responded to the different sites to provide security, according to the sheriff’s office.
Gov. Roy Cooper on Sunday tweeted that state law enforcement would join the investigation.
“I have spoken with Duke Energy and state law enforcement officials about the power outages in Moore County. They are investigating and working to return electricity to those impacted,” Cooper said. “The state is providing support as needed.”
Moore County is in central North Carolina, about 50 miles northwest of Fayetteville.
Butthole_Surprise17 on December 4th, 2022 at 15:08 UTC »
Wow, a clear coordinated attack against infrastructure and no mention of the word “terrorism” by the media. Call this for was it is, terrorism.
xdeltax97 on December 4th, 2022 at 13:47 UTC »
Wouldn’t this be domestic terrorism then? Not just vandalism or a regular criminal act due to what occurred?
Edit: removed technically
racksy on December 4th, 2022 at 13:17 UTC »
to add a little more context, the police have said that numerous substations were attacked.
there was an 18+ drag show there which had been receiving threats of violence from a number of far-right groups, including the proud boys. these groups were at the venue before the show attempting to intimidate the performers into canceling.
instead of canceling, the venue hosting the show ramped up security and continued with the show.
just shortly after the show began is when the attack happened--multiple power substations for the entire county were attacked. it seems like the attackers used guns (and maybe more) to disable the substations.
there is a high profile far-right person who lives in the area with a history of attacking drag shows. when the power went out they posted on facebook "the power is out in moore county and i know why." and also posting a picture of the venue with the words "god will not be mocked"
this right-winger has a long history--they were at the january 6th insurrection and they have been active and vicious in their attacks on other drag shows.
again tho, its worth mentioning, police have been insinuating that numerous substations were attacked simultaneously, so if this is related to the right-wing groups, it wont be limited to just her and her posts on facebook, there is likely a coordinated group of people--if it was indeed simultaneous.
sidenote: i find it more than a little bit strange that the local cops keep using the term "vandalized" for this. i know its just semantics, but wow... the attackers used guns (maybe worse) to disable these. and to white wash this with the term vandalism smells strange to me.
edit: added a little more context and corrected some weird grammar shit
edit2: removed the part about facebook screenshots of her account since multiple articles are already talking about the same posts.
incredible: even after the attacks killed the electricity, they wouldn't let this stop the show -- the crowd illuminated the room with all of their phone flashlights and they all sang along with the star <3