Police in Southport, North Carolina, released the names Wednesday of three people killed in a mass shooting at a riverfront bar, including a 36-year-old Charlottesville man.
The others who died in the attack were a 64-year-old retiree who had recently moved from California and a man visiting from Ohio.
Ex-Marine Nigel Max Edge, 40, has been charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 27 shooting, which also wounded five other bar patrons. He had been severely wounded in combat while serving in Iraq, was well known to many in Southport and had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Killed in the shooting were:
Solomon Banjo, 36, of Charlottesville.Joy Rogers, 64, of Southport.And Michael Durbin, 56, of Galena, Ohio.
Banjo worked as an executive director for Eon, a health care technology company. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Durbin worked in the financial sector.
A Gofundme online fundraising campaign has started for Rogers’ funeral expenses, describing her as “a beautiful wife, mother, friend and a passionate follower of Jesus. She was a collector of people and warmly loved everyone she was near.”
Her husband, Lennie, offered this statement to WECT news in Wilmington:
“Joy was a devoted wife to her husband and a loving mother of three. Born and raised in California, she and her family moved to Southport just a year ago to enjoy their retirement. In that short time, she touched countless lives in her community.
“Joy loved Jesus deeply, and because of that, she loved others deeply. She lived up to her name — her spirit radiated joy, light, and kindness everywhere she went. Joy had a special gift for making people feel seen and welcomed. She was truly a vibrant part of the community and her family, and she will be dearly missed.”
A second fundraiser seeks to benefit all three victims’ families through sales of T-shirts bearing “910vercome” on them, a reference to the coastal North Carolina area code.
Prosecutors said last Sunday the only connection between the victims was their mutual desire for a good time on a Saturday night.
“All of us can just imagine a warm Saturday night, a special date night, sitting on a dock by the river on the water,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Monday. “No one goes into a Saturday night thinking tragedy is possible.”
Southport police said Sunday that a boat pulled up to the American Fish Company dockside bar and a single person inside opened fire before fleeing down the Cape Fear River. Officers said they found Edge, who legally changed his name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, at a public boat launch in Oak Island when they took him into custody.
Police in Oak Island said all officers there knew Edge, who would “hang out” on their pier.
DeBevoise 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.
In 2020, he published an account of his service titled “Headshot: Betrayal of a Nation,” in which he describes joining the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, then serving on one deployment in Haiti and two in Iraq. On the second in 2006, he described being shot three times and taking hits from shrapnel during an ambush in Anbar province.
“Although other explosions occurred,” he wrote, “the one that hit me crashed into my helmet, causing a traumatic brain injury and paralyzing half my body. … This wasn’t the end of my story. It was only the beginning.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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