THREE people are dead and eight hurt after a shooter opened fire from a boat on a crowded bar on Saturday night.
Nigel Max Edge, 40, was named on Sunday morning as the suspect who allegedly made his escape on the boat before being picked up by cops 30 minutes later.
American Fish Company bar is a former fueling stop for boats and fish shack built on an open-air riverfront deck[/caption]
Cops told people to shelter in place when the shooting began at 9.30pm[/caption]
Reports of an active shooter first emerged at around 9.30pm on Saturday night after shots were fired at the waterfront American Fish company bar in Southport, North Carolina, approximately 30 miles south of Wilmington.
Edge allegedly traveled up Cape Fear river on a boat and docked before speeding up the waterway after the shooting.
The arrest was made about 12 miles west of the shooting as cops identified a person of interest bringing a boat out of the water to secure it to a trailer.
Authorities said there was nobody else on the boat.
“Shortly after 10pm, the US Coast Guard observed a single individual matching the description of the shooter, loading their boat at the public boat ramp at NE 55th Street in Oak Island,” the city’s public information office ChyAnn Ketchum confirmed.
“The Coast Guard crew detained this suspect, who is now being held by the Oak Island Police Department, and will be turned over to the Southport Police Department for questioning, with assistance from the State Bureau of Investigation.”
No further information on the victims or suspect has been released by cops.
Six of those injured were taken to hospital.
Two other victims refused medical treatment, cops said.
The conditions of those injured is also unknown.
“We don’t feel like there’s any additional threats to the community right now,” Southport Police Chief Todd Coring said during a press conference on Saturday night
“We’re working with neighboring Oak Island with a possible suspect.”
The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
The bar attacked is a former fueling stop for boats and fish shack built on an open-air riverfront deck.
It bills itself as one of Southport’s “favorite hangouts.”
A performer named Bacon Grease was scheduled to perform there on Saturday night from 7pm to 10pm, according to the New York Times.
Southport Police Chief Todd Coring (pictured at a Saturday night press conference) said there was no further threat to the community[/caption]
