Suspect charged in North Carolina mass shooting that killed 3, injured at least 8 others

SOUTHPORT, N.C. — Police in North Carolina have charged a suspect in connection with a mass shooting that killed three and left at least eight others injured at a riverside bar near the Atlantic Ocean coast on Sept. 27.

The shooting at American Fish Company in Southport occurred around 9:30 p.m. local time when a gunman traveling in a boat along the Cape Fear River pulled up to the restaurant’s dock and fired into a crowd. The boat then fled up the Intracoastal Waterway toward Oak Island.

At about 10 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard detained a person matching the description of the shooter, who was taking their boat out of the water at a public boat ramp about 12 miles from the restaurant where the shooting occurred, according to a news release from the Southport Police Department.

The suspect, 40-year-old Nigel Max Edge, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and five counts of common law attempted first-degree murder, Southport Police Chief Todd Coring confirmed Sept. 28. Brunswick County Detention Center records show Edge was booked into the jail early Sept. 28 where he is being held with no bond.

Police believe the location was targeted and the shooting was “highly premeditated,” Coring said at a news conference. The suspect is believed to have acted alone. Coring also confirmed the suspect used an assault rifle. Oak Island Police Chief Charlie Morris said officials executed a search warrant on the suspect’s boat and home and recovered firearms.

Coring said it is “still a very active investigation,” and he asked anyone who may have been at American Fish Saturday night or on Friday night to call the Southport police department.

Edge previously went by the name Sean DeBevoise. He is a Marine veteran who was wounded in Iraq in 2006. While serving as a sniper, he was shot in the head and hip, ankle and shoulder, according to the Wilmington Star-News, a USA TODAY Network partner.

He came to Wilmington in 2007 to recuperate from injuries after a doctor at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Tampa told him he’d be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Now, he can walk without a cane or a walker, according to a 2017 Star-News article.

“He has been a resident of Oak Island for several years,” Morris said. “He frequently hung out on our pier. Our employees knew him, and so we were familiar with him.”

Wearing his Marine uniform alongside his service dog Rusty, Edge escorted American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler to the Country Music Awards in 2012. At the time, Pickler tweeted a picture of them together with the caption, “Me and my date (Sgt Sean Debevoise).”

Edge will have his first appearance in court on Monday.