当局称，挥舞枪支的破坏者涉嫌造成北卡罗来纳州一个县的大规模停电，导致数万名客户在寒冷的气温下陷入黑暗。
周六晚上大规模停电后，在两个关键的变电站发现了破坏的证据，促使摩尔县警长办公室将这一事件作为“犯罪事件”进行调查，并要求联邦调查局协助调查。
穆尔县周日宣布进入紧急状态，周日晚上9点至凌晨5点实行宵禁。摩尔县治安官罗尼·菲尔茨告诉ABC新闻，宵禁将延长至周一晚上。
当地公共事业公司杜克能源的发言人杰夫·布鲁克斯说，这两个变电站在袭击中受到严重破坏，许多设备将不得不更换。他说，电力可能要到周四才能完全恢复。
官员们说，周一至少有35，430名公用事业客户连续第二天断电。
“这真是一场噩梦”
官员说，整个县的学校已经无限期取消，摩尔县中心城镇迦太基为遭受破坏的居民开设了一个避难所。
停电从周六晚上7点左右开始，数千名杜克能源公司的客户在忍受了一夜的冰冻温度后，周日仍然没有电。
菲尔兹在周日的新闻发布会上说，破坏行为的肇事者“完全知道他们在做什么”他说，每个受损的变电站都遭到了多次枪击，其中一个物业的大门被撞开，以达到目标。
“我们(周六)晚上在摩尔县面临着一些我们以前从未面临过的事情，但我们会度过难关，”菲尔德斯说。“我可以向外面的肇事者保证，我们会找到你的。”
菲尔兹补充道，“这是有针对性的。这不是随机的。”
尚未宣布逮捕任何人。菲尔兹拒绝就可能的动机发表评论，但表示调查尚未发现将破坏行为与南派恩斯市中心的女歌手变装秀联系起来的证据，这场变装秀引发了社区抗议。变装表演原定于周六晚上，由于停电而中断。
菲尔兹周一告诉美国广播公司新闻，整个县的执法部门在过去48小时内一直在处理一些紧急电话，包括几起抢劫案，其中一起发生在一家枪支商店。
“这是一场噩梦，”菲尔兹说，并补充说，联邦调查局，国土安全部，ATF和许多联邦机构都参与了这次调查。
菲尔兹说，这是一个故意行为，如果有人因停电而死亡，嫌疑人可能面临谋杀指控。
警长称这些袭击“令人大开眼界”，并表示他已经与北卡罗来纳州州长罗伊·库珀和州参议员及众议员就加强该县基础设施周围的安全进行了交谈。
易受攻击的变电站
阿肯色州西南电力公司(Southwest Power Pool)退休的关键基础设施保护主任凯文·佩里(Kevin Perry)告诉美国广播公司(ABC)新闻，全国大多数配电变电站可能容易受到破坏或铜被盗，但电网中内置的冗余和备份系统可以防止大范围停电。
佩里说:“变电站往往在偏僻的地方，这意味着它们在很大程度上是无人值守的。”“如果你拿出足够的设备，那么你就会失去冗余，当你失去冗余时，你就没有任何办法向那个特定的区域供电，那时候你就会因为破坏而结束像这样的区域性停电。”
他说，迄今为止执法部门与公众分享的证据让他相信这可能是一次有针对性的袭击，而不是普通的破坏分子在变电站随意开枪的行为。
“当你看到两个变电站被摧毁，导致像这样的区域性停电时，你不得不开始思考，是的，这很可能是一次有计划的协同攻击，”佩里说。“这意味着枪手对电网有足够的了解，如果这两个变电站被摧毁，将会导致目标区域停电。”
他说，虽然2005年的《能源政策法案》要求对一些拥有50万伏或更高电压的关键变电站进行风险评估，如果确定有必要，可以要求在它们周围安装防弹墙。
佩里说，“试图将每一个变电站保护到那个水平，成本会非常高，”他补充说，像摩尔县那样的大多数低压变电站都被链条围栏和带刺铁丝网支架包围着。
白宫简报
国土安全部部长亚历杭德罗·马约尔卡斯(Alejandro Mayorkas)听取了停电情况的简报，一名发言人表示，该部门正在与联邦调查局协调。DHS基础设施安全局CISA也向杜克能源公司提供资源，该公司正在努力恢复供电。
“随着调查的展开，DHS将继续与联邦调查局、州和地方当局分享信息。CISA领导层和地区团队已向杜克能源公司提供支持，帮助他们恢复供电，”DHS发言人周一表示。
国家安全委员会发言人约翰·柯比周一表示，白宫正在密切关注这一事件，并补充说，加强基础设施以应对外部威胁是一项首要任务。
“很明显，我们会让调查进行到底。我想我们已经听总统谈过很多次了。从一开始，他就把关键基础设施的安全和基础设施的弹性作为优先事项，不管是来自自然威胁还是人为威胁，”柯比说。“我们还有很长的路要走。我想总统会第一个承认这一点。
'多日恢复'
布鲁克斯说，公用事业人员正在“夜以继日”地恢复供电，但他说，“我们正在考虑用一些相当大的设备进行相当复杂的修复。”在工作人员努力修复损坏时，摩尔县的几个执法机构正在提供安全保障。
“我们确实希望市民做好准备，对于大多数顾客来说，这将是一个多天的恢复，”布鲁克斯说。
迈克·卡梅伦，南派恩斯镇的助理镇长兼消防队长，告诉记者罗利新闻和观察家报称几起交通事故归咎于停电，包括在南派恩斯的一个十字路口发生的多车相撞事故，造成数人受伤。
“车祸完全是因为停车灯熄灭了，”卡梅伦告诉《新闻与观察家报》。
官员们说，北卡罗来纳州派恩赫斯特的摩尔地区医院也停电了，被迫切换到备用发电机。
库珀州长在一份声明中说推特帖子他已经和杜克能源公司和州执法官员谈过了。
库珀在推特上说:“像这样对关键基础设施的攻击是一种严重的故意犯罪，我希望州和联邦当局彻底调查并将责任人绳之以法。”
Power outages in North Carolina suspected as 'intentional vandalism': Sheriff
Vandals wielding firearms are suspected of causing a major power outage across a North Carolina county that has plunged tens of thousands of customers into darkness amid freezing temperatures, according to authorities.
Evidence of sabotage was found at two key electrical substations following the massive blackout Saturday night, prompting the Moore County Sheriff's Office to investigate the incident as a "criminal occurrence" and call in the FBI to assist in the probe.
A state of emergency was declared in Moore County on Sunday and a countywide 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was imposed Sunday night. Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields told ABC News that the curfew will be extended to Monday night.
Jeff Brooks, spokesman for Duke Energy, the local public utility, said the two electrical substations were severely damaged in the attacks and much of the equipment will have to be replaced. He said it could be until Thursday when power is completely restored.
At least 35,430 utility customers awoke for the second day Monday without electricity, officials said.
'It's been a nightmare'
Schools throughout the county have been canceled indefinitely and a shelter was opened Carthage, a central Moore County town, for residents suffering from the disruption, officials said.
The power outages began at about 7 p.m. Saturday and thousands of Duke Energy customers remained without electricity on Sunday after enduring freezing temperatures overnight.
Fields said at a news conference Sunday that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the sabotage "knew exactly what they were doing." He said multiple shots were fired at each of the damaged substations and a gate was rammed open at one of the properties to reach the target.
"We faced something (Saturday) night in Moore County that we've never faced before, but we'll get through it," Fields said. "I can promise to the perpetrators out there, we will find you."
Fields added, "this was targeted. It wasn't random."
No arrests have been announced. Fields declined to comment on a possible motive, but said the investigation has yet to uncover evidence linking the vandalism to a Downtown Divas drag show in Southern Pines that has sparked community protests. The drag show had been scheduled for Saturday night and was disrupted due to the blackout.
Fields told ABC News on Monday that law enforcement throughout the county has been dealing with a number of emergency calls in the last 48 hours, including a few robberies, one at a gun store.
"It’s been a nightmare," Fields said, adding the FBI, Homeland Security, ATF and a number of federal agencies are involved in this investigation.
Fields said this was an intentional act and if someone dies as a result of the blackout the suspect or suspects could face murder charges.
The sheriff called the attacks an "eye-opener" and said he has spoken to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and state senators and representatives about beefing up security around the county's infrastructure.
Vulnerable substations
Kevin Perry, retired director of critical infrastructure protection at Southwest Power Pool in Arkansas, told ABC News most electrical distribution substations across the country may be vulnerable to vandalism or copper theft, but redundancies and backup systems built into power grids prevent widespread blackouts.
"Substations tend to be out in the middle of nowhere, and that means they’re, for the most part, unattended," Perry said. "If you take out enough equipment then you lose the redundancy and when you lose the redundancy you don’t have any way of feeding power to that particular area and that’s when you end up with a regional blackout like this due to sabotage."
He said the evidence law enforcement has shared with the public so far leads him to believe it may have been a targeted attack and not the work of average vandals taking potshots at the substations.
“When you see two substations taken out, resulting in a regional outage like this, you have to start thinking that yes it’s very possible that it was a planned coordinated attack," Perry said. "The implication is that the shooters knew enough about the grid that these two substations if taken out would cause a blackout in the intended area."
He said that while some critical substations boasting 500,000 volts or higher are mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to have risk assessments conducted on them and if determined necessary could be required to have ballistic walls around them.
"To try to protect every single substation to that level would be enormously cost prohibitive," Perry said, adding that most low-voltage substations like the ones in Moore County are surrounded by chain-link fences and barbed wire outriggers.
White House briefed
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was briefed on the power outages and a spokesperson said the department is coordinating with the FBI. The DHS infrastructure security agency CISA is also offering resources to Duke Energy, which is working to restore power.
"DHS will continue to share information with the FBI, and state and local authorities as the investigation unfolds. CISA leadership and regional teams have offered support to Duke Energy as they work to restore service," a DHS spokesperson said Monday.
Duke Energy personnel work to restore power at a second crippled electrical substation after the Moore County Sheriff said that vandalism caused a mass power outage, in Carthage, N.C., on Dec. 4, 2022.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Monday the White House is monitoring the incident closely, adding that shoring up infrastructure against external threats is a major priority.
"We're going to obviously let that investigation play out. I think we've heard the president talk about this many times. He's made critical infrastructure security and the resilience of that infrastructure, regardless of whether it's from natural threats or manmade threats, a priority since the very, very beginning," Kirby said. "We still have a long way to go. I think the president will be the first to admit that.
'Multiday restoration'
Brooks said utility crews are working "around the clock" to restore power, but said, "we are looking at a pretty sophisticated repair with some fairly large equipment." Several law enforcement agencies in Moore County were providing security as crews worked to repair the damage.
"We do want citizens to be prepared that this will be a multiday restoration for most customers," Brooks said.
Mike Cameron, Southern Pines' assistant town manager and fire chief, told theRaleigh News and Observersaid several vehicle accidents were being blamed on the power outage, including a multiple car crash that injured several people at an intersection in Southern Pines.
"The car wreck was totally because the stop lights were out," Cameron told the News and Observer.
Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, North Carolina, also lost power and was forced to switch to its backup generator, officials said.
Gov. Cooper said in aTwitter postthat he has spoken with Duke Energy and state law enforcement officials about the crisis.
"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," Cooper tweeted.
