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I think there was a connection to the drag show. From the article:
Police aren't saying much, rather they're repeating over and over that it was someone who knew what they were doing. It's unclear whether they think that's an inside job or if was a planned attack from someone who researched exactly how to inflict the most damage. Law enforcement hasn't made any arrests nor have they indicated there are any suspects. They did speak to a woman online who bragged she knew who it was and implied that a drag show was the target of the attack.
"But honestly, bottom line we really do not know," Maddow explained. "At the first press conference yesterday where the sheriff and local officials took the first questions about what had happened, they were immediately asked and then asked repeatedly whether this attack on the electrical infrastructure in North Carolina might be related to threats and intimidation that have been directed at local LGBTQ groups in Moore County recently, and in particular, at a drag show at a downtown venue in the town of Southern Pines, a show that started just minutes before the power stations were shot up and the lights went out."
She noted that there were a lot of right-wing protesters trying to shut down the event Saturday night, just hours before the power stations were shot up. It follows another protest by masked right-wing paramilitary groups at an LGBTQ group last month in the nearby town of Sanford, North Carolina. In fact, there were about 4 different anti-LGBTQ hate attacks by far-right, milita groups over the weekend. One in Columbus, Ohio, and another in Lakeland, Florida.
Groups that monitor militias and hate groups have noticed a significant increase in mobilization and attacks over the past several years against LGBTQ people, people of color, Jewish Americans, Asian Americans and more. Last year, hate crimes rose 44 percent. In 2022, hate crime reports were already increasing again at the halfway point of the year.
