40,000 North Carolina homes without power second night after 'targeted attack' ... trends now
Two power substations in a North Carolina county were damaged by gunfire in what police say is being investigated as a criminal act, causing damage that could take days to repair leaving tens of thousands of people in the dark without electricity.
In response to ongoing outages, which began just after 7pm on Saturday night across Moore County, officials announced a state of emergency that included a curfew from 9pm on Sunday until 5am on Monday.
Also, county schools will be closed Monday.
'An attack like this on critical infrastructure is a serious, intentional crime and I expect state and federal authorities to thoroughly investigate and bring those responsible to justice,' Governor Roy Cooper wrote on Twitter.
Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said during a Sunday news conference that authorities have not determined a motivation behind the vandalism.
This photos shows the gate to the Duke Energy West End substation in Moore County, North Carolina on Sunday
Duke Energy workers inspect what they said was one of three bullet holes that crippled an electrical substation after the Moore County Sheriff said vandalism caused a power outage
A hole that a Duke Energy worker said was caused by gunfire that crippled an electrical substation is seen in a radiator attached to a transformer
Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said during a Sunday news conference that authorities have not determined a motivation behind the vandalism
Fields said investigators have found no evidence or reason to believe that the Saturday evening attack was tied to a controversial drag show in downtown Southern Pines.
The power went out during the Downtown Divas show at the Sunrise Theater about an hour into the show. Prior to the show, a number of protesters and counter protesters had demonstrated out in front of the theater.
Organizers of the drag show revealed how last week far-right activists had tried to shut down the event for weeks.
In response to threats of violence, organizers then beefed up security for Saturday's event with the Southern Pines Police Department monitoring.
Fields said investigators have found no evidence or reason to believe the attack was tied to a controversial drag show in downtown Southern Pines
Organizers of the drag show at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines said last week that far-right activists had tried to shut down the event for weeks. The event was cut short after the power went out
One local, Emily Grace Rainey, who had posted an invitation to the drag show protest on her Facebook page on Saturday morning, posted on Saturday night, 'The power is out in Moore County, and I know why.'
Deputies with the Moore County Sheriff's Office visited her home within hours of the posting. 'Sorry they wasted their time. I told them that God works in mysterious ways and is responsible for the outage. I used the opportunity to tell them about the immoral drag show and the blasphemies screamed by its supporters,' she wrote in the post.
Earlier in the week Emily Grace had been encouraging people to attend a protest against the the drag show
Supporters of the drag show were seen outside the theater on Saturday evening and were kept apart from those protesting the event
One local, Emily Grace Rainey, who had posted an invitation to the drag show protest on her Facebook page on Saturday morning, posted on
