(FreedomBeacon.com)- North Carolina police said that shell casings were found at a power plant that was attacked last week, according to Newsweek. The power outrage in Moore County reportedly affected around 45,000 people in the state and is currently being investigated as “intentional vandalism” and a “criminal occurrence,” according to the county’s sheriff’s office.
Two power stations were reportedly damaged by gunfire, with Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields saying that they appeared to be targeted and not random, adding that he did not know why anyone would want to do that.
The FBI said that two Duke Energy Substations were reportedly damaged by unknown suspects.
Moore County Chief Sheriff Deputy Richard Maness spoke with ABC News saying that “multiple shell casings were recovered” from the scene and added that no suspect has yet been identified.
Thomas O’Connor, a former FBI agent and senior consultant at The Soufan Group explained how shell casing could be used to find the perpetrators. He said that there are different things that leave marks that make the casing identifiable to the weapon used. He also said that DNA could be found on the casings because when bullets are loaded into the magazine, they are pushed down by the thumb to get it past the spring so it locks, which is information that could assist investigators.
But O’Connor added that if the guns used were already disposed of, it might make it harder to track down the person responsible for firing them. Nevertheless, he indicated that casings “could potentially be very important evidence.”
“There is case-breaking amounts of information that potentially could come from a proper forensic recovery of firearms evidence,” he added.
Duke Energy recently announced that it had restored energy to all customers in Moore County, saying that they are continuing to work with local, state, and federal agencies in the investigation.