Moments ago, we got an update
from officials
in North Carolina after the FBI joined
an investigation there
into, quote, intentional
and targeted attacks
that left
tens of thousands of North Carolinians
without power.
Utility crews
responding to the outages found
at least two power substations
damaged by gunfire in Moore County.
That's about an hour
southwest of Raleigh.
Local officials
have not announced a suspect or a motive
and the local sheriff
has not ruled it out
as an act of domestic terrorism.
Attacks on the United States
power grid
have been the subject
of extremist chatter in recent years.
And CNN's
Whitney Wylde
starts off our coverage from Moore
County, North Carolina,
where it could be days
before power is restored.
Moore County, North Carolina, will again
plunge into darkness tonight,
two days
after the sheriff
says someone opened fire
on two power substations
a few miles apart
in Carthage and West End North Carolina.
Our medical calls have increased
due to people
being on oxygen
or having other medical devices
that require power.
We've had an increase of fire alarms.
We've had an increase in traffic
because police are working
to find the person or people
responsible
for what they say
was an intentional criminal act.
So far,
they are releasing little information
saying only the attack happened
Saturday night and a gate
at one of the substations
was removed from its hinges.
Power went down around seven p.
M the same time
a drag show
is set to take place in the area.
Social media buzzed with rumors
over the weekend
that the attacks were some kind of effort
to stop the drag show.
But police
say so far they have found no evidence
connecting the two.
No motivation.
Nobody's.
No group has stepped up to acknowledge
or accept that want it done.
The attack is the type of incident
law enforcement
and homeland
security officials have warned
about as recently as last week.
The Department of Homeland Security
updated its National Threat Assessment
Bulletin November 30th.
Sounding the alarm
about the potential for attacks
on critical infrastructure.
The outages have left the community here
scrambling and power
likely won't be restored fully
until Thursday.
Got no way to heat
because we don't have a fireplace
and we don't have no gas grill
or anything like that.
So we're just stranded
at McNeil Oil and Propane in Aberdeen.
Davis
Clark says
they are the only fuel provider
for about 20 miles.
First responders and public works
employees lined up
throughout the morning.
Soon as the power went out.
Started getting calls.
We've figured out a way to rig up a truck
so that we could fuel emergency services.
The police fire EMS.
And that's where we started that.
And it was a long night Saturday night.
And we've been going ever since.
Clark is a third generation
owner of the family business,
and this is the first time
they opened it up for drive thru service.
I've never seen anything like it.
Keep more county
in your thoughts and prayers.
I hope they find who did this
because it's a senseless
Earlier,
earlier this year,
the Department of Homeland Security
issued a memo saying
that since 20,
20 domestic
violent extremists
have been saying on social media
and other online platforms
that the energy grid
is a particularly attractive target Jake.
So certainly
what happened
is that
the Department of Homeland Security
warned about something
that ended up
coming to fruition,
which is very startling
for law enforcement across the country.
Meanwhile, here in Moore, County,
as they await for the power to come back
online, schools
still closed for tomorrow
and a curfew
will be in place tonight Jake.
All right.
Wendy Wild in Moore County,
North Carolina.
Thanks
Let's discuss with Juliette Kayyem,
the former assistant secretary
of the Department of Homeland Security
and CNN chief law enforcement
and intelligence analyst John Miller.
John, walk us through
what you think is likely happening
on the ground in Moore County right now.
How do these investigations work?
How can they figure out who did this?
Well, it's great to know a motive
because that gives you a way
to start towards
people who have that motive,
but they don't have that right now.
So right now
they're going to be doing video
canvasses,
which is very hard in a remote area.
Not a lot of video.
They're trying to find.
Where was the shooter?
Did they leave footprints?
Do they leave shell casings?
Is there a fingerprint or DNA?
Some of that work can be done
by getting an entrance of a bullet
and an exit if it went through something
and reversing that
with a laser beam
that can take you to a likely place
where that bullet
originated, maybe a shooting position
that was secreted.
But there's a similar case
to this in 2013
at another power station
in California
that remains unsolved
because of the areas they occur on
It's a tough one.
And Juliette,
the sheriff
would not say
whether this was
an act of domestic terrorism.
How will investigators
figure out what the motive is?
Well,
if you find suspects
or just exactly
what John was talking about in terms of
if you have evidence
that will lead you to
someone that's going to be
the most helpful,
they'll look at online chatter
there's lots of rumors
about online chatter,
but there's really only two options.
So or three,
there could be a foreign threat.
Unlikely,
just because it's such a small area,
it's remote
it doesn't have that sort of impact
that you would think
a foreign attack would.
It would be a hate crime,
domestic terrorism,
which would be focus on
was something going on
and the lights were to be turned out in
an LGBTQ event.
The third is, of course,
an insider threat.
And I just want to raise this
because what
we heard in the press conferences
is, is the shooting
of the of the areas was targeted enough
to bring down two different facilities
and impact that many people.
You don't just drive by these places
and know where to shoot.
So they will be looking at the potential
that there was either
casing or someone who knew the area, knew
the facilities
and knew exactly where to shoot.
You don't.
These aren't drive by incidences.
These are ones
in which you're targeting directly.
Those are the three options
available to you.
And they would have to know quite a bit
about in Yeah, these are big structures.
And John, as we've talked about,
we don't know the motive,
but you flagged a document
that was passed around
by some white supremacist groups
in 20, 20
talking about targeting power stations
in order to commit
racially motivated attacks.
It says, quote,
Peppered all over the country are power
distribution substations
to keep electricity
flowing all over the country
sitting ducks worthy prey
with the power off.
When the lights don't come back
on, all hell will break loose,
making conditions desirable
for our race to once again
take back what is ours.
Obviously heinous concept there.
How might
posting such as this factor
into the investigation.
Well, we've been seeing that since 2020.
So over the last couple of years
there's been a real uptick.
And I think the undersecretary
of homeland
security actually
mentioned this today
since it came out in a report in 2020
a real uptick
in a focus on the power grid.
I'm thinking back in 2020
I was seeing reports of
the three individuals
arrested in Las Vegas
from the Boogaloo Boys group
who were conspiring to attack
the power grid
neo-Nazi group the national Socialist
Order
suggested attacking the power grid
and their online presence
and in their documents in July 16th
we had a Philadelphia incident
where a drone flew into a power station
and I won't go into the details
but it was equipped to attempt
to sort out the system there.
And then there's that 14 page document
you're talking about,
which kind of gives the
how to of sniper rifles
and the power grid.
So this has been a real focus
on the idea that you cause
chaos in the white supremacist
or acceleration.
This movement
that's bent on toppling the government
and the chaos will help you get there.
And Juliette,
the sheriff addressed rumors yesterday
that circulating on social
media that the attack was
perhaps an
attempt to stop a local drag show.
He said that investigators
have not been able to directly tie that.
But no, it's
even if someone takes credit
and says, oh, I know what happened,
it may just be,
you know,
hyperbole big
talk to say that they're in the loop.
You as an investigator is perspective
that's obviously relevant.
What did she or he know,
the social media post
that we're looking at,
but you don't want to be dissuaded
from from the real
perpetrators, as John is saying.
And there's a whole pool of people
who could qualify,
both because of their ideology,
but also maybe their past employment.
We just don't know yet.