{"id":2056122,"date":"2025-09-28T19:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2056122"},"modified":"2025-09-28T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T19:53:08","slug":"accused-southport-shooter-nigel-edge-once-escorted-american-idol-star-kellie-pickler-to-cmt-music-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/accused-southport-shooter-nigel-edge-once-escorted-american-idol-star-kellie-pickler-to-cmt-music-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused Southport shooter Nigel Edge once escorted &#8216;American Idol&#8217; star Kellie Pickler to CMT Music Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The man arrested for <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/27\/us-news\/north-carolina-american-fish-company-shooting-leaves-multiple-injured\/\"><strong>the deadly shooting<\/strong><\/a> at a crowded dockside restaurant in North Carolina once escorted \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d star Kellie Pickler to the CMT Music Awards \u2014\u00a0and recently sued her, bizarrely claiming she tried to fatally poison him with tainted Jim Beam whiskey at the star-studded event.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/28\/us-news\/southport-mass-shooting-suspect-identified-as-nigel-edge-after-deadly-north-carolina-attack-report\/\">Nigel Edge<\/a>, who changed his name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, appeared in his Marine uniform on the red carpet in 2012 alongside the singer as her special date for the night, accompanied by his service dog Rusty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe and my date (Sgt Sean Debevoise),\u201d Picker said on X as she posted a picture of her with the military veteran.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Singer Kellie Pickler and Then-named Sgt. Sean DeBovoise, (Ret.) arrive at the 2012 CMT Music awards at the Bridgestone Arena on June 6, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee. <span class=\"credit\">WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>DeBevoise, who was wounded in Iraq, boasted about the honor of being Pickler\u2019s date at the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am ecstatic about being here at the CMT Music Awards with Kellie, even more to consider her a friend,\u201d he said at the time,<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/kellie-pickler-cmt-awards-date-wounded-marine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> according to Taste of Country<\/a>. \u201cShe is the most sincere person I know. She is an angel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t<iframe src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/25361734\/embed\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" class=\"flourish-embed-iframe\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe>\n\t<\/p>\n<p>The pair had  previously met at a charity event in North Carolina dedicated to the troops.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But their rosy relationship eventually faded \u2013 with Edge suing Pickler in February, claiming she tried to kill him with a poison-laced glass of whiskey that night.<\/p>\n<p>The only reason he survived was because he refused the drink it, Edge wrote in court documents\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2025\/09\/28\/accused-north-carolina-shooter-nigel-edge-sued-kellie-pickler-trying-to-kill-him\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obtained by TMZ.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Edge even included photos of him and Pickler at the event in his suit, while incorrectly calling the awards  the \u201cCMAs\u201d instead of the CMTs throughout the suit, TMZ noted.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption> Mushot of Nigel Edge <span class=\"credit\">Brunswick County Sheriffs Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>North Carolina authorities identified Edge, 39, as a combat veteran allegedly suffering from PTSD when he was taken into custody Saturday night after the mass shooting, which left three people dead and five others injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Law-enforcement sources described Edge as also harboring numerous Q-Anon conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<p>Edge pulled up to the American Fish Company restaurant in Southport Yacht Basin, about 30 miles south of Wilmington, and began spraying bullets into the crowd of unsuspecting diners, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>His litigation against Pickler was just the latest in a series of wacky lawsuits he filed in the last year, which included numerous allegations that a cabal of \u201cLGBTQ White Supremacists\u201d and pedophiles were trying to murder him because he\u2019s a \u201cstraight man.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Law-enforcement officials are on the scene of the mass shooting. <span class=\"credit\">RENEE SPENCER\/STARNEWS \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"50\" src=\"https:\/\/embeds.nypost.com\/protected-iframe\/ae07a3726bec0fc91a840dddea9d294c\" scrolling=\"auto\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"\" allow=\"camera; fullscreen;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He accused Southport\u2019s Generations Church of being in on the plot, along with the Brunswick Medical center of trying to kill him \u2013 with both lawsuits being dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>And he even wrote a book \u201cHeadshot: Betrayal of a Nation\u201d where he described being wounded during deployment in Iraq and claimed that was also a part of the conspiracy to kill him.<\/p>\n<p>Edge has said he was wounded in two separate IED attacks during a 2006 tour in Iraq, and also suffered a bullet wound that left shrapnel lodged in his head.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A representative for Pickler did not respond to\u00a0a\u00a0Post request for comment\u00a0Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Edge was armed with a short barrel AR rifle, equipped with a suppressor, a folding stock and scope during Saturday\u2019s attack, court documents charge.<\/p>\n<p>He faces three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon.<\/p>\n<p>In various lawsuits and a book he wrote about his combat history, Edge claimed he was the victim of friendly fire in a plot orchestrated by \u201cLGBTQ White Supremacists\u201d who wanted him dead for being a straight man.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The motive behind Saturday\u2019s attack has yet to be determined, police said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>-Additional reporting by Joe Marino<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The man arrested for the deadly shooting at a crowded dockside restaurant in North Carolina once escorted \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d star Kellie Pickler to the CMT Music Awards \u2014\u00a0and recently sued her, bizarrely claiming she tried to fatally poison him with tainted Jim Beam whiskey at the star-studded event. Nigel Edge, who changed his name from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2056123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[27820,353699,382593,357355,309691,37798],"class_list":["post-2056122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-american-idol","tag-cma-awards","tag-kellie-pickler","tag-mass-shootings","tag-north-carolina","tag-us-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Accused-Southport-shooter-Nigel-Edge-once-escorted-American-Idol-star.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}