night was a criminal attack. reporter: the fbi says it s investigating willful damage after officials say at least one gunman broke through gates accessing two duke energy substations and started shooting. enough damage to knock out power to more than 45,000 customers, the majority of them, still in the dark. this was not a random act. this was something targeting the folks that done this is actually what they were doing, and that s scary. reporter: businesses rose, and busy intersections all in the dark. how dangerous is this situation? it s very dangerous. we have had several accidents already due to power outages. we had shots fired. we had robbery attempts. reporter: duke energy would not detail security measures around the substations but says they do meet industry requirements. . are these energy stations secure enough? you know, we have robust security measurements and requirements as an electric utility. we re regulated. we look for opportunities of how we can impro
saturday night was a criminal attack. reporter: the fbi says it s investigating willful damage after officials say at least one gunman broke through gates accessing two duke energy substations and started shooting. enough damage to knock out power to more than 45,000 customers. the majority of them still in the dark. this was not a random act. this was something targeted. the folks that done this knew exactly what they were doing. so and that s scary. reporter: tonight the county is under a state of emergency with mandatory curfew at 9:00 p.m. schools closed. one of the area s main hospitals forced to operate on a backup generator. businesses, roads and busy intersections all in the dark. how dangerous is the situation? it s very dangerous. we ve had several accidents involved already due to power outages. we had some shots fired. we had robbery attempts. reporter: duke energy would not detail security measures around the substations but says they do meet industry requireme