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Roy Cooper offers $75K reward in Duke Energy substation attack

Duke Energy has completed repairs on a substation that was shot up and expects to fully restore power to all customers by Wednesday evening.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced that the state of North Carolina, Duke Energy and Moore County are each offering a total reward of $75,000 for any information that leads to an arrest in the attack on a Duke Energy substation that was shot up, leading to widespread power outages for tens of thousands of people. 

Each party is offering $25,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the attack. The FBI is also part of the investigation

"An attack on our critical infrastructure will not be tolerated," Cooper said. "I appreciate the coordinated efforts of law enforcement to leave no stone unturned in finding the criminals who did this and I think Moore County and Duke Energy for matching the state's reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible." 

Anyone with information is asked to contact to the Moore County Sheriff's Office at 910-947-444 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. 

Duke Energy said Wednesday that it has completed repairs on substation equipment damaged when it was shot up and that it expects power to be fully restored by the evening.

In a statement to customers on its website, the energy company said that all of the equipment damaged in an attack on two North Carolina substations Saturday has been fixed or replaced. The company said that Moore County customers will gradually get power back throughout the day as it finishes testing and completes restoration safely.

RELATED: Shooting suspects in Duke Energy substation attack wanted by FBI

“To avoid overwhelming the electrical system we will bring power back on gradually, with the goal of having the majority of customers restored before midnight tonight,” the statement said.

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As of late Wednesday morning, fewer than 20,000 customers were without power in the county, according to poweroutage.us. That's down from a peak of more than 45,000 customers without power over the weekend.

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.

Schools are closed through Thursday. The Moore County School District will announce by Wednesday at 4 p.m. whether schools will be closed to students on Friday.

The county’s transportation services are operating only for clients who have scheduled dialysis, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, according to the Moore County website.

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