Four electrical transformers were vandalized on Sunday (December 25th) in Washington state, in the northwestern United States, raising fears of a potential targeted campaign by far-right groups after warnings to this effect issued earlier by the authorities. federal.
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Damage to infrastructure in Pierce County, a southern suburb of Seattle, knocked out power to more than 14,000 homes on Christmas Day, local police said.
An investigation was opened, but no suspect had been apprehended on Sunday, detailed the police in a press release, ensuring that they were not able to know for the moment whether or not it was a coordinated attack.
Similar events elsewhere
Authorities on Tuesday (December 27th) appealed to residents and businesses near damaged infrastructure to review CCTV footage captured at the time of the attacks.
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“If you have surveillance footage at your home or business, please review it and let us know if you find anything that could help our investigators identify the person(s) responsible.”said a statement from the Pierce County Sheriff.
Police said they are aware of similar events elsewhere in Washington State, as well as in Oregon (Northwest), and North Carolina (Southeast).
“Credible and targeted plans to attack electricity infrastructure”
The federal police had also warned in early December of threats against the electrical network of the company Tacoma Public Utilities, owner of two of the sabotaged infrastructures, according to a press release.
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Activists of violent extremist groups “have developed credible and targeted plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020”the Department of Homeland Security said in a report last January, quoted by American media.
In early December, some 45,000 homes and businesses were plunged into darkness in Moore County, North Carolina after a gun attack on two electrical transformers.
“Create a state centered on white ethnicity”
An attack that came a year after the indictment in the same state of five men, alleged members of white supremacist and neo-Nazi discussion groups, accused of planning attacks on electricity infrastructure.
They were trying to provoke “general chaos”, “with the aim of creating a state centered on white ethnicity”according to the indictment.
While in Ohio (North), three men linked to the neo-Nazi movement pleaded guilty in February to using guns and explosives to damage several power plants in various locations.
