FBI Joins Investigation Into North Carolina Power Outage Caused By 'Intentional' Attacks on Substations

Joe_Dragon writes: With no suspects or motive announced, the FBI is joining the investigation into power outages in a North Carolina county believed to have been caused by 'intentional' and 'targeted' attacks on substations that left around 40,000 customers in the dark Saturday night, prompting a curfew and emergency declaration. The mass outage in Moore County turned into a criminal investigation when responding utility crews found signs of potential vandalism of equipment at different sites -- including two substations that had been damaged by gunfire, according to the Moore County Sheriff's Office.

'The person, or persons, who did this knew exactly what they were doing,' Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said during a Sunday news conference. 'We don't have a clue why Moore County.' Fields said multiple rounds were fired at the two substations. 'It was targeted, it wasn't random,' he said. The sheriff would not say whether the criminal activity was domestic terrorism but noted 'no group has stepped up to acknowledge or accept they're the ones who [did] it.' In addition to the FBI, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has joined the investigation, officials said. More than 33,000 customers were still in the dark across the county Sunday evening, the Duke Energy outage map showed. For some, the outage may stretch into Thursday, officials said, upending life for tens of thousands. All schools in the county will be closed Monday and authorities have opened a shelter running on a generator. Traffic lights are also out, and while a few stores with generators were able to open their doors, several businesses and churches in Moore County were closed Sunday, CNN affiliate WRAL reported.

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