leading us off tonight, she s in pinehurst, north carolina. reporter: with an army of bucket trucks racing to restore power, tonight, federal, state, and local authorities in moore county, north carolina, are hunting for suspects, after what they re calling an intentional, willful, and malicious attack on the power supply. early evidence suggests that it was deliberate and the investigation is underway. reporter: authorities say the suspect or suspects drove up to two power substations saturday night and opened fire, knocking out power to 45,000 customers. it s been a nightmare. reporter: moore county sheriff ronnie fields says whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. what s been done here could cause the death of individuals, so and that s how serious it is. a st emergopening a ls decri shelter as temperatures we used all of our sanitation and everything today. being without water is worse than not having lights or anything.