Restoring power after shootings could take until Thursday

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Crews are making progress on restoring power to a county where one or more vandals shot up substations, but the repairs won't be complete until later in the week, Duke Energy said Tuesday.

The power company said in a message to customers posted on its website that it is on track to restore power throughout Moore County by Thursday morning, in line with previous estimates.

“Our technicians continue to work in 24-hour shifts and remain on schedule to bring service back on by early Thursday,” the statement said.

Nearly 36,000 customers were without power in the county, down from a peak of around 45,000, according to poweroutage.us.

Authorities have said the outages began shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday night after one or more people drove up to two substations, breached the gates and opened fire on them.

Duke Energy officials have said the damage requires sophisticated repairs and delivery of equipment from outside of the area.

Authorities have not released a motive or said what kind of weapon was used.

Many businesses around the county that's about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of the state capital of Raleigh are closed at a normally busy time of year for tourism and holiday shopping. Schools are also closed and traffic lights are out around the area.