Accused gunman Nigel Edge, formerly named Sean DeBevoise, once accompanied American Idol star Kellie Pickler to the CMT Music Awards, it has emerged.
Three people were killed and at least five others were injured when a shooter on a boat opened fire on patrons at a waterfront bar in a coastal North Carolina town in what police say was a “highly premeditated” attack.
Edge, 40, was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, Southport Police Chief Todd Coring said at a Sunday press conference.
Edge had changed his name from Sean DeBevoise, according to Southport public information officer ChyAnn Ketchum, citing the district attorney’s investigation.
Under that former name, Edge accompanied Pickler, who rose to fame as a contestant on season five of American Idol, to the 2012 CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.
Pickler and Edge were pictured on the red carpet for the event, with the veteran posing in his Marine uniform and joined by his service dog Rusty.
“Me and my date (Sgt Sean Debevoise),” Pickler shared on Twitter at the time alongside a photo of them both.
Meanwhile, Edge told Taste of Country: “I am ecstatic about being here at the CMT Music Awards with Kellie, even more to consider her a friend. She is the most sincere person I know. She is an angel.”
The Independent has contacted Pickler’s representatives for comment.
The Defense Department confirmed to NPR that DeBevoise is a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 and was awarded a Purple Heart.
A man with the same name is credited as the author of a book recounting his service in the Marines in Iraq, in which he describes being severely wounded — shot four times, including once in the head, by friendly fire.
“We understand this suspect identifies as a combat veteran. He self-identifies. Injured in the line of duty is what he’s saying, he suffers from PTSD,” Coring said Sunday.
Edge is being held at the Brunswick County Detention Center without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
The victims killed in the shooting have not been publicly identified.
Oak Island Police Chief Charlie Morris said the suspect was known to police as someone “who frequently hung out on our pier,” and that he had filed lawsuits against the town and police department over the last few years, according to the Associated Press.
The district attorney said Edge had had “minor contacts” with police in the past, but nothing significant in his past which would give us any indication that he was capable of such horror.”
