The cause of two power outages on two separate occasions in Doniphan County is being blamed on shots fired.

Westar Energy said power went out around 6 p.m. on Sunday Jan. 17 and was restored around 10 p.m. The Sunday prior power was interrupted around 7:40 p.m. and restored around 9 p.m. according to the power company.  Areas impacted included Troy, Denton, Leona, Bendena and several other rural areas in Doniphan County.  Both outages affected around 2200 customers.

“In both cases the power outage was caused by a downed power line,” said Shane Batchelder a Spokesperson for Westar Energy. “They were pretty close together. There were two spans of lines and it appears that someone was either hunting or shooting in the area and shot those lines.”

Batchelder said crews were on scene as of 10:30 Monday morning inspecting the lines for any additional damage that could cause future problems.

“If there was somebody hunting there could be other damage that we may not see right now,” Batchelder said. “Visual and infrared inspections are complete and no additional damage was found. It appears the lines were damaged from shots, but it’s not clear what shooting activity was taking place.”

Batchelder said he is still trying to find out if a police report was filed.