Can the extraterrestrial interlopers create lightning bolts to strike particular targets? Is that done frequently?

This, indeed, is a frequent occurrence because it is simple and straightforward and something akin to a sport for them that is greatly enjoyed. It is very analogous to the joys of a human hunter stalking the prey, and if successful, possibly bagging a magnificent elk that represents a trophy, in addition to a potential food source. In the case of the extraterrestrials, the joy is in the hunt, finding a victim that consists of someone worthy of their time and attention, if possible, to add a bit of challenge and the need for discernment to the task. It might simply be a case of spotting the hapless human who is out and about during a thunderstorm when they should know better and take cover, and teach them a lesson that will raise fear in many others witnessing the event or hearing about the tragic loss. It is not done so frequently as to raise genuine suspicion of something more sinister than natural forces at work. This is not hard to do, to create fairly significant attrition of human victims, given that everyone is culturally conditioned from childhood that such tragic events are all too common. And so, when it happens it is not that surprising and it might not even be widely reported beyond a local region where the tragic event took place, so one will not see and react to the wider pattern, that all around the world such tragedies happen with some regularity. Even though statistics are kept about such things, the mind control engineering complacency in the citizenry will protect their enterprise from causing alarm, and people will not guess there is something deeply sinister and unnatural about people being killed by lightning as often as this happens.