Gunfire raked multiple pieces of large equipment at a 230kV substation in Moore County, North Carolina Saturday evening, plunging about 40,000 residents into darkness. Because of the type of “sophisticated” equipment that was damaged, those folks will remain in the dark for at least a few more days.

Authorities didn’t release information on how many shots caused the failure or the type of firearms used.

Half of Moore County woke up without power Sunday morning following reported attacks at multiple substations Saturday night. https://t.co/aF7oU8fTGD

— The Pilot (@ThePilotNews) December 4, 2022

NPR has the story . . .

A North Carolina county is under a state of emergency following a mass power outage that could leave tens of thousands of people without electricity for days to come. The outage, which the authorities believe to be intentionally caused by gunfire, is now being investigated as a criminal act.

“We faced something last night, here in Moore County, that we’ve never faced before,” the county’s sheriff, Ronnie Fields, said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon. “But I promise you, we are going to get through this, and we are going to get through this together.”

The county is also under curfew between 9 p.m. on Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday. The county-wide curfew could remain in place for the next few days, according to the sheriff. The Moore County Parks and Recreation Sports Complex is now operating as a shelter while schools are closed for Monday.

The mass power outage across Moore County, about an hour outside of Raleigh, began shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday after multiple power substations were damaged by what authorities described in a statement as “intentional vandalism.” The substations will require a “sophisticated repair,” Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said at the conference, which will require new equipment and could take until Thursday to complete.

From the AP . . .

“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,” Gov. Roy Cooper wrote on Twitter.

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at a Sunday news conference that authorities have not determined a motivation. He said someone pulled up and “opened fire on the substation, the same thing with the other one.”

“No group has stepped up to acknowledge or accept that they’re the ones that done it,” Fields said, adding “we’re looking at all avenues.”

The sheriff noted that the FBI was working with state investigators to determine who was responsible. He also said “it was targeted.”

Wild theories were tossed out for the cause of the targeted attack. Some posited the shooting was the result of opposition to a live drag show taking place in Southern Pines on Saturday.

“electrical substation disabled by gunfire possibly to prevent local drag show” was not something I could have imagined tbhhttps://t.co/xtzC3nVkXl

— Benjamin Wibking (@BenWibking) December 5, 2022

Hosts “Naomi Dix” from “Durham’s House of Coxx” claimed they had received violent threats before the show.

At the same time, the demand for hate, racism and bigotry in America has oftentimes greatly exceeded the actual supply as many attacks initially thought and reported to have been hate crimes have turned out to be staged or fake.

Whatever the motive of those who took down much of the county’s electrical service, ZeroHedge closed out their report of the incident with this . . .

The fact that mere small arms fire can cause such a widespread and lasting loss of power should serve as a reminder to enhance your preparation for disaster. 

Amen.