(NEW YORK)– Federal authorities are investigating a number of recent reported acts of sabotage on utility companies, a senior law enforcement source told ABC News.
The move comes in the wake of substations being riddled with bullets in North Carolina, leaving tens of thousands without power for days.
After the incident, the utility companies reached out to federal authorities in recent days to investigate, the source said.
The most recent potential case of sabotage occurred in South Carolina.
According to multiple law enforcement sources, an individual opened fire near a Duke Energy facility at the Wateree Hydro Station in Ridgeway.
The individual used what appeared to be a long gun and then sped away. No one was injured and there has been no reported damage to the station at this time.
A $75,000 reward has been offered in the North Carolina case, in Moore County, where two electrical substations were shot at.
“This was a malicious attack on an entire community, and it plunged tens of thousands of people into darkness. They knew what to do to disable this substation … But we know that people are very frustrated here, and that’s very understandable,” said the state’s governor, Roy Cooper.
No arrests have been made and no motive has been announced in that case.
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