The suspect in a 2025 mass shooting in Southport will face the death penalty, according to the District Attorney’s office.
DA Jon David said in a press release that “the State will proceed capitally in State v. Nigel Max Edge” for the September 2025 shooting at American Fish Co. in Southport. Three people died and multiple other restaurant patrons were injured when Edge allegedly opened for from a boat on the Cape Fear River. the announcement came today (Oct. 7) after a hearing in Bolivia.
Edge is currently in Cherry Hospital, the state mental facility, and David said “evaluators have concluded he is likely to be restored.
“Capacity and sanity are distinct legal questions.” David said. “Capacity concerns a defendant’s present ability to understand the proceedings and assist in his own defense. Sanity concerns his mental state at the time of the offense, which North Carolina measures under the M’Naghten standard.
“To date, my office has received no evidence that Mr. Edge was legally insane when this crime occurred.”
Hundreds of tourists were on the Southport waterfront when the sunset shooting happened, including several Columbus County residents. No local visitors were hurt in the incident.
Edge was a Marine when he was seriously injured in Iraq, David said. Edge suffered a traumatic brain injury and has continued to struggle with mental health.
“Those facts are important and they were weighed, but must be balanced against the circumstances of the crime,” David said. “North Carolina law reserves the death penalty for the most serious cases, and three people lost their lives that night while numerous others were seriously injured. Our duty is to follow the facts and the law.”
Edge will receive a second attorney since the case has been set as capital, David said.
“A capital designation guarantees the defendant the highest level of protection our system offers,” David said, noting that if evidence was produced showing Edge was insane at the time of the killings, or if he is “not restored to capacity,” the death penalty would be off the table.
Death penalty cases typically take years to work through the court system. David, who did not seek reelection, will hand off the case to J.K. Somers, who won the Republican nomination for District Attorney in March and faces no Democrat challenger in November. Somers will take office in December.
