A Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient allegedly killed three people and injured eight after shooting an assault rifle from a boat at a dockside restaurant in Southport, North Carolina.
Nigel Edge, 40, is scheduled to appear in a North Carolina courtroom Monday after being charged with murder, attempted murder and assault in connection with a mass shooting on Saturday night at the American Fish Company in Southport, a historic town about 30 miles south of Wilmington, according to The Associated Press.
Edge, 40, served in the Corps from 2003 to 2009. He deployed to Iraq in 2005 and again in 2006, according to the New York Post.
A U.S. military spokesperson told the Post that Edge, who changed his name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, was awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct medal, Combat Action ribbon, Sea Service Deployment ribbon, Iraq Campaign Medal with two bronze stars, Humanitarian Service medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service medal, and National Defense Service medal.
“Evil has come ashore in Southport, North Carolina,” District Attorney for North Carolina’s Judicial District 5 Jon David, said during a Sunday morning press conference.
According to court documents, Edge was armed with a short-barreled AR rifle, equipped with a suppressor, with a folding stock and scope.
The Post also reported that Edge orchestrated a slew of bizarre lawsuits filed in North Carolina this year. One suit, filed in May, claimed the Generations Church was behind a “civil conspiracy” masterminded by the LGBTQ community and white supremacist pedophiles to kill Edge because he’s “a straight man.” Edge accused the Brunswick Medical Center in a lawsuit filed in January of being a part of a conspiracy launched by “LGBTQ White Supremacists” who were targeting him because he survived their attack in Iraq. Both lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice.
In a book he wrote when he was going by the name DeBevoise, “Headshot: Betrayal of a Nation,” Edge claimed that he was shot four times, including in the head, by friendly fire over an international conspiracy, the Post reported. Edge also said he was wounded in two separate IED attacks during a 2006 tour in Iraq, along with a bullet wound that left shrapnel lodged in his head.
Edge faces three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder, and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He was being held at the Brunswick County Detention Center without bond.
The Southport shooting is one of two mass shootings allegedly committed by Iraq War veterans over the weekend.
Just a little over 12 hours after the North Carolina shooting, another Marine veteran, Thomas Jacob Sanford, drove his car into the chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and then opened fire. At least four people were killed and eight were injured. Sanford, who then set a fire that grew into a large blaze, was killed at the scene.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.