FBI, ‘in full cooperation with Moore County,’ is seeking cell phone information

Federal investigators are seeking cell phone data as part of their search for whoever fired upon a pair of Duke Energy substations in Moore County, leaving the county without power for days.

“We are in a fully joint investigation with Moore County. Investigators have filed search warrants for cell phone data,” Shelley Lynch, an FBI spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

She did not say if the “data” being sought was call logs or location histories that may be kept by Google Maps or Apple Maps.

Moore County Sheriff’s Office investigators also indicated that they were seeking multiple search warrants in the case, but it was not immediately clear if a judge had approved them or if the warrants had been executed.

No search warrants had been returned in the case as of late Friday, a Moore County Clerk of Superior Court employee told a reporter visiting the courthouse.

Students in Moore County were able to attend school Friday for the first time all week. It was the latest sign that life was returning to normal after the days-long power outage came to an end on Wednesday.

At Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, Anna Hage was picking up her daughter after the first day of school all week. Hage, a former school teacher and mother of four from Pinehurst, said that suddenly losing power for nearly four days was incredibly frustrating, especially because it wasn’t the result of a storm or bad weather — something that couldn’t be helped — but that “somebody had done it on purpose.”

“It felt kind of like a time warp,” Hage said. “It felt like you just lost this chunk of time, and we just had to adjust quickly.”

Until their power was restored late Wednesday morning, Hage and her family had to make do with cellphone flashlights, charging their phones in their car. On the second day, they were able to plug their refrigerator into a neighbor’s generator and store as much food of their own, as well as of their in-laws and neighbors, as possible.

Business picking up

The streets of Carthage and Pinehurst were filled with cars, as were the parking lots of local businesses that had seen customers staying home for much of the week while substation repairs continued.

At the Pinehurst Resort, guests admired a Christmas tree in the previously mostly empty lobby of the Carolina Hotel. Basic operations continued to be powered by a generator during the outage, and a small group of guests stayed at the hotel throughout the week.

About 110 new guests were scheduled to check in Friday, according to hotel staff.

Tom Reis, who had booked a stay at the hotel with his two brothers nearly three months ago, said he was disappointed they couldn’t enjoy touring all of the restaurants and shops in town.

The brothers arrived in Pinehurst Monday afternoon, after Tom, who lives in Asheville, picked up his brothers Pat and Dan, who had flown in from Minnesota and Oregon. They ended up canceling a reservation at another nearby hotel that didn’t have generators, to finish out their weeklong trip at the Carolina Hotel.

“They just did a great job,” Tom Reis said of the hotel staff trying to accommodate guests on limited power, while loading up an SUV with bags and golf clubs.

Luckily for the brothers, who are avid golfers, “the golf was unaffected,” Tom Reis said. The course stayed open and the golf carts were charged. All told, they managed to play five rounds over the course of the week.

Most emergency measures lifted Thursday, with shelters closing and emergency meal services wrapping up. Duke Energy finished its restoration efforts Wednesday evening.

LGBTQ community under threat

Investigators have not named any suspects or specified a motive for the attack, but it happened at the same time a drag performance was taking place at Southern Pines’ Sunrise Theater.

During a Thursday event in Durham, performers who were part of the Southern Pines show said they believe the timing was intentional and is indicative of an increasingly hostile climate for the LGBTQ community nationwide and in parts of North Carolina.

North Carolina and Texas were tied for the most drag events to be “targeted by protests and threats,” according to a November report from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

“For some time now, with not only (social) media bullying, but also physical and emotional attacks on the community, that’s where my brain went. This is getting out of hand with the queer community as a whole,” performer Naomi Dix said, according to The News & Observer.

Dix received death threats leading up to Saturday’s event, and the venue had extra security on hand to protect performers.