Nearly 40,000 customers lost power over the weekend after a massive outage caused by damage to substations by firearms. Full story: https://www.wral.com/gunfire-caused-damage-that-led-to-moore-county-blackout-schools-closed-monday/20612201/ All Moore County schools are closed Monday and the American Red Cross has opened a 24-hour shelter to help thousands of people lacking heat, medical care and other necessities during a mass power outage. Nearly 40,000 customers lost power over the weekend after a massive outage caused by damage to substations by gunfire. The outages started Saturday after 7 p.m. and power may not be restored until Thursday, according to Duke Energy. On Monday at 12:00 a.m. 33,378 people were without power, according to a Duke Energy outage map. Temperatures dropped below freezing Monday morning, and it was 29 degrees for four hours. Two power substations were targeted in a gunfire attack, leading to multiple equipment failures, according to the Moore County Sheriff's Office. The substations are around 5 miles apart, located in West End and Carthage. Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said just before midnight that the outage was being investigated as a "criminal occurrence." A state of emergency was declared in Moore County Sunday at 4 p.m., and a curfew is in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. "We faced something last night in Moore County we've never faced before," said Fields at a press conference Sunday. Fields said that crews at the substations found "extensive damage" when inspecting the equipment; He also said that there was evidence that firearms had been used to disable the equipment. Subscribe to WRAL: https://youtube.com/c/wral5 Follow WRAL: Facebook: https://facebook.com/WRALTV Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRAL IG: https://instagram.com/wral About WRAL-TV: WRAL is your Raleigh, North Carolina news source. Check out our videos for the latest news in Raleigh, local sports, Raleigh weather, and more at https://WRAL.com #localnews #northcarolina #moorecounty