North Carolina “must fix its broken health care system” to prevent more violent attacks, Gov. Josh Stein said Monday, urging change two days after police charged an ex-Marine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder with killing three people in a popular Southport bar.
The governor made his remarks hours after Nigel Max Edge, 40, had his first appearance in Brunswick County court, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting at American Fish Company on the Cape Fear River. Southport police said the shooting suspect pulled up to the bar in a boat and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing three and wounding five more.
Edge, who changed his name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, served two deployments in Iraq where he suffered multiple gunshot and shrapnel wounds, including one to his head, an ordeal he chronicled in a self-published book.
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He served nearly six years in the Marines between 2003 and 2009, rising to the rank of sergeant and earning the Purple Heart for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom, ABC confirmed.
Earlier this year, he filed multiple lawsuits alleging a variety of conspiracies, including that he was “human trafficked” by an LGBTQ conspiracy and was set up to be murdered in Iraq as a “hate crime.” Police said they had visited his house and knew him well, but their contacts with him were minor until Saturday, when he was arrested at a public dock in Oak Island.
A Coast Guard boat patrols the Cape Fear River by American Fish Company in Southport, N.C., Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. A man in a boat opened fire from a boat Saturday evening killing three people at the popular nightspot.
Red flags
Stein said North Carolina must find better connection between its law enforcement and health care systems, linking people who are a “challenge” with treatment they need.
He referenced “red flag bills” that have been repeatedly filed by Democrats but so far have not passed in the General Assembly, controlled by Republicans. These laws vary from state to state, but in general they allow family members, law enforcement or health care providers to petition the courts to remove firearms for up to a year in cases where people are threats to themselves or others.
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The vast majority of mentally ill people pose no risk to the public, Stein said.
“But some can,” he said. “There are too many people in our community with dangerous obsessions, exhibiting threatening behavior, who do pose risks. ... There are too many people who are profoundly troubled, who are obsessed, whose paranoia gets stoked by what they read on the internet every day.”
Stein said he did not know enough about Edge’s case to say whether anything might have prevented the shooting, and he deferred to local law enforcement who called the situation “premature.”
“We are not going to let this define Brunswick County,” said Sheriff Brian Chism. “We are not going to let this define North Carolina, and we are definitely not going to let this define Southport, the place that we love. ... Our faith is being tested right now.”
Who are victims?
Southport Police Chief Todd Coring said all five of the wounded victims remained hospitalized, and that one of them is fighting for life. He said information about all of the victims’ identities would be released Tuesday.
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Police said Sunday that the shooter specifically targeted the Southport bar and acted as a “lone wolf.” Some of the victims were vacationing in the riverfront town and had family members outside North Carolina who needed to be notified.
“I urge you to lean on each other in this waterfront community that you have built here,” Stein said. “I know I speak for the entire state of North Carolina [in saying] that you are not alone in your heartache and pain. You do not grieve alone.”
[SRC] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/southport-shooting-nc-gov-stein-182649475.html
