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23
North Carolina Mass Attack Suspect Went To Music Awards With American Idol Star, Then Sued Her
It has been revealed that the combat veteran accused of shooting up a busy North Carolina venue from his boat, claiming the lives of three people and injuring eight more, attended a music awards ceremony with American Idol’s star Kellie Pickler.
The attack took place on Saturday night, September 27, around 9.30 p.m., when Nigel Edge, 39, drew close to the American Fish Company dockside diner and opened fire.
Highlights
- Nigel Edge, 39, opened fire from his boat near American Fish Company, slaying three and injuring eight
- He was arrested after the Coast Guard intercepted him five miles from the scene.
- Court records show Edge once attended the CMT Music Awards with Kellie Pickler in 2012.
Police then spotted him loading his vessel five miles from the scene and sicced the coast guard on him, resulting in Edge’s arrest.
A deep dive into his affairs has since revealed that he has instigated a litany of lawsuits, including one against Pickler, whom he accused of trying to poison him on the same night of their CMT date in 2012.
RELATED:
Nigel Edge, then known as Sean DeBevoise, attended a music awards ceremony with the American Idol star
Image credits: SafetyNotorious
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Edge sued Pickler in February 2024 for spiking his drink with a noxious substance at the star-studded event more than a decade ago.
The court filing shows the two at the event, which he refers to as the “CMA awards,” and claims that the American Idol passed Edge a poisoned glass of Jim Beam whisky.
He claims in the filing that he is only alive today because he did not drink from it.
Image credits: Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office
Court filings also reveal that the shooter did not always go by Nigel Edge; in 2023, he changed his name from Sean DeBevoise, the handle by which he was known when he appeared alongside Pickler.
At the time, DeBevoise thought Pickler was an angel
Around the time, things appeared to be going swimmingly, even by the now-incarcerated military man’s standards.
🚨🇺🇸 DEADLY BOAT SHOOTING ROCKS SOUTHPORT MARINA: 11 VICTIMS CONFIRMED
Southport, NC was shattered Saturday night after a gunman opened fire from a white center-console boat at American Fish Company in the Yacht Basin, leaving 11 people shot.
🔹 The attacker fled up the… pic.twitter.com/sAV6A1lUv0
— Info Room (@InfoR00M) September 28, 2025
Taste of Country observed Pickler tweeted, apprising her fans of her date for the night, and reported then-DeBevoise praising her.
“I am ecstatic about being here at the CMT Music Awards with Kellie,” he gushed. “Even more to consider her a friend. She is the most sincere person I know. She is an angel.”
Image credits: Michael Loccisano/Getty
Pickler had met DeBevoise at a fundraiser in North Carolina, and he invited her to a Hope ForOur Heroes, Got Heart, Give Hope Gala, which she declined due to her schedule.
Kellie Pickler, at the time, professed to being a big fan of the troops
She made it up to him by inviting him to CMT and later explained that she was a fan of the troops because “It takes a very special person to sacrifice everything.”
Image credits: Jason Merritt/Getty
“When I say ‘everything,’ I don’t mean just their time, I mean their life. Everything!” she emphasized.
“Their family, their kids, their loved ones. You sacrifice everything to put your life on the line for us, and it’s such a great, honorable, heroic thing … We have to raise our glass to them and keep them all in our prayers and always say thank you.”
The country news outlet touched on his combat experience, reporting that the Edge, a “Wilmington, N.C. native, was a part of two separate IED attacks, in addition to a separate incident in which a bullet shrapnel lodged in his head. He suffered nerve damage after the AK-47 peppered his body.”
Image credits: kelliepickler
The Marine believed that he was being hounded by “LGBTQ white supremacists” for being a “straight male”
Recent accounts indicate that Edge had PTSD and had been mid-episode when he was arrested for the dockside restaurant shooting.
Image credits: The NC Beat
Numerous lawsuits against “LGBTQ white supremacists” whom he alleges have been plotting against him because he was a “straight male” have also been discovered.
In these lawsuits, which have since been thrown out, Southport’s Generations and the Church Brunswick Medical Center were accused of conspiring to slay him.
Image credits: The NC Beat
He is also the author of a book, Headshot: Betrayal of a Nation, in which he details injuries sustained in Iraq and claims that they were also part of a plot to take his life.
Netizens are seeing a pattern in two mass shootings by veterans in two days
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What do you think ?
Mel in Georgia 2 months ago
The gun culture in the US informs people that guns are the solution to their fears and problems - whether it's self-defense, $uidide, vengeance, taking out people they disagree with ... I have never liked personal possession of guns, even though I get their use and appeal. How many deaths will have to happen before we as a nation take some responsibility???
Binky Melnik 2 months ago (edited)
You left some words out, Mel; I can fix it for you: “The gun culture in the US informs some of the mentally ill that guns are the solution to their fears and problems.” Not only do normal people not believe weapons are the solutions to their problems, but most normal people don’t even own weapons and don’t believe others should, either.
Load More Replies...
Binky Melnik 2 months ago
All that shrapnel in his noggin told him Kellie Pickler poisoned his drink? If he told anyone that, that person oughtta have looked into getting him help. Letting someone walk around believing crazy, illogical things like that means he’s likely a powder keg. Those kindsa things are REALLY BIG CLUES that something's not right, especially because he’s a veteran with chunks of metal in his brain! Given the government won’t do nearly enough (if they do anything at all) to help vets, it’s up to civilians to try to mitigate future damages. I (a vet) just had another vet go crazy on me at 0300 today, screaming and scaring me so much I ran off crying. While I had a makeshift weapon on me, I don’t use it unless I’m in physical trouble. I’ll tell the administration what happened tomorrow, I’ll be thanked, and then nothing will happen to the poor guy.
Ol' Stevie 2 months ago
You're a textbook example of why the word "veteran" has lost all meaning, and why many of us use the term "combat veteran" to differentiate ourselves from the rest. As for your thing about "tHe sHrApnEl In HiS bRaIn i3 taLkINg t0 hIM", that is not how it works Not for me at least, although mine's a grenade fragment, maybe they're not as talkative.. You're also wilfully ignoring the fact that he suffers with PTSD. I've got friends who are pretty much dead but they're still walking around, because the memories of what they've been through, what they've seen, what they've done have destroyed them. Things combat vets don't say N°837: "Someone shouted at me, it was so scary that I ran away and cried!". Thank you for your service.
Load More Replies...
Joe Downey 2 months ago
They had better start screening The Boots at Parris Island. Once a Terrorist always a Terrorist Too bad the Church Burning Trumped him .
Mel in Georgia 2 months ago
The gun culture in the US informs people that guns are the solution to their fears and problems - whether it's self-defense, $uidide, vengeance, taking out people they disagree with ... I have never liked personal possession of guns, even though I get their use and appeal. How many deaths will have to happen before we as a nation take some responsibility???
Binky Melnik 2 months ago (edited)
You left some words out, Mel; I can fix it for you: “The gun culture in the US informs some of the mentally ill that guns are the solution to their fears and problems.” Not only do normal people not believe weapons are the solutions to their problems, but most normal people don’t even own weapons and don’t believe others should, either.
Load More Replies... Binky Melnik 2 months ago
All that shrapnel in his noggin told him Kellie Pickler poisoned his drink? If he told anyone that, that person oughtta have looked into getting him help. Letting someone walk around believing crazy, illogical things like that means he’s likely a powder keg. Those kindsa things are REALLY BIG CLUES that something's not right, especially because he’s a veteran with chunks of metal in his brain! Given the government won’t do nearly enough (if they do anything at all) to help vets, it’s up to civilians to try to mitigate future damages. I (a vet) just had another vet go crazy on me at 0300 today, screaming and scaring me so much I ran off crying. While I had a makeshift weapon on me, I don’t use it unless I’m in physical trouble. I’ll tell the administration what happened tomorrow, I’ll be thanked, and then nothing will happen to the poor guy.
Ol' Stevie 2 months ago
You're a textbook example of why the word "veteran" has lost all meaning, and why many of us use the term "combat veteran" to differentiate ourselves from the rest. As for your thing about "tHe sHrApnEl In HiS bRaIn i3 taLkINg t0 hIM", that is not how it works Not for me at least, although mine's a grenade fragment, maybe they're not as talkative.. You're also wilfully ignoring the fact that he suffers with PTSD. I've got friends who are pretty much dead but they're still walking around, because the memories of what they've been through, what they've seen, what they've done have destroyed them. Things combat vets don't say N°837: "Someone shouted at me, it was so scary that I ran away and cried!". Thank you for your service.
Load More Replies... Joe Downey 2 months ago
They had better start screening The Boots at Parris Island. Once a Terrorist always a Terrorist Too bad the Church Burning Trumped him .
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