Hey there, folks. It is Monday, September twenty ninth, and it appears there was a tragedy before the tragedy we saw this weekend in North Carolina, a mass shooting that left several people dead. But now we're learning more about the shooter and it sounds as if a lot of people might have failed this guy. And with that, welcome
to this episode of Amy and TJ. I don't know if that's going too far this early ropes and saying that, but a story is developing of a guy who needed help, and a lot of people knew needed help, and now here we are.
Look, we don't normally, and for very serious and specific reasons, don't talk much about the gunman or the shooters when you have mass tragedies, because on principle, you don't want to elevate or somehow make this terrible act the person who committed it elevated to a way where somehow a copycat would want that kind of attention or feel like they've gained some sort of notoriety. But in this specific case, we are talking about a highly decorated marine who gave
truly his life, nearly his life for his country. When you actually hear what happened to him while he was fighting for our country in operation of Rocky Freedom.
You will.
Be amazed at what this young man endured, what he came through, and then the disabilities that he was left with were not We didn't take care of our own. We did not protect this young man from himself when he incurred life threatening, catastrophic injuries in war. We didn't make sure he was okay when he got back. And that is so sad. And that's why this story is it, like you said, a tragedy compounding another tragedy.
It's it's bizarre oftentimes that a picture starts to develop this quickly right after a shooting like this. And it is bizarre because now included in this bizarre story is him side by side on a red carpet with a country music star. Yeah right, Kelly Pickler.
Kelly Pickler, American idol of American idol fan.
Okay, this part of the story comes up. Now, what is he doing there? Why is he there? That kind of quite frankly adds to who he was, how highly regarded he was. We're going to rejoy his list of vocolade. It was crazy and we'll get into why he was next to Kelly Pickler, but that added to this story Robes as we see a guy who for all intents and purposes, was on a particular path in life, went to war and somebody forgot about him. Yeah, I mean somebody.
This is and we're talking about a guy who had a history of mental health issues according to authorities well documented.
And his family too. His mother absolutely weighed in on it as well.
And essentially was screaming, this dude needs help, my son needs help. Now we're not This is not a time obviously to be pointing fingers. The blame goes to the shooter. He pulled the trigger, he did what he did. But it's difficult. This is a tough one, Roles, because we always we want to look he did this very evil thing as the evil person. That's the end of the story. This is just the beginning of the story.
Well, we're always looking for the why, and we almost never get it. In these types of shootings, these mass shootings, they're unexplained, they're puzzling. This one, we actually can connect the dots, it seems with you know, and this is pretty This is within hours of this tragedy happening but we can already see what happened and what, more importantly didn't happen, and how we can prevent That's what this is all about, right, We want to prevent things like
this from happening again. And there were warning signs and there were massive holes in our healthcare system that let down this at the time, young man, which ultimately led to this tragedy. A lot of people could clearly connect those dots. So we're talking about just to get you up to speed. I'm sure you're aware of what happened, but we're talking about forty year old Nigel Edge. And he's changed his name recently, but it all speaks to his mental health issues because he was trying to distance
himself from his family because he was paranoid. He will get into all of his mental health issues. But he was shot in the head in the line of duty while serving our country and then he turned around and shot three people in the head.
That was a detail. Yeah, that was a detail we got from his court appearance today. He did make a first court appearance, and yeah, that was They said all the victims were in the head. So we had three dead and eight injured in the incidents, which was bizarre and also in that he opened fire on them from a boat. So he essentially pulled up to one of those many people who've been to these types of places. They're right there on the water. People are sitting out
at night and enjoying music. It's a good time. People can pull up their boats and hop out and they go to dinner and whatnot. And he pulled up in a boat and fires from the boat and what authorities called a highly premeditated attack. This is in Southport, North Carolina. Ropes. This is an area you know, well, you said, this is a gorgeous area and what thirty or so miles outside of Wilmington.
Yes, this is a coastal, beautiful North Carolina town, picturesque and authorities say the people who were shot were mostly tourists. These weren't locals. These were people who came to the area.
It was a beautiful Saturday night. And actually they believe now from what they've gathered, he actually intended on committing this violence on Friday night, because they have witnesses and surveillance putting him in the exact same area on his boat with the lights off on Friday when another boat came by he turned his lights on, they believe decided to wait until the next day. But it was Saturday night,
around nine thirty at night. People were outdoor on this deck listening to a live band, live music on the water, and he was there with a automatic rifle a scope. And he is a trained sniper. That was his job as a marine. He was a sniper who was trained to kill, and so when he started firing, he didn't just indiscriminately. It looks as though he pointed and aimed at these poor victims' heads. And that is what the
prosecutor said today in court. They are considering the death penalty given the severity of his crime and the impact it's had. But the motive is still under investigation. But when we get into his what he's been doing over the last decade or so, it'll become clear that there might not be a motive. But we can understand how possibly this happened because of where he was mentally.
He had grievances clearly with his parents, with the government, with the hospital, with the police, with all kinds of folks. But he was in court today, made an appearance this afternoon. He's charged with three counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder. They do expect to add charges as well. Now what else, Yeah, actually you had you had the notes there? Anything else when needs be pointing out from court?
Well, the big thing was that prosecutors told the victims told the court excuse me, that the victims were shot on the head. But the prosecutors were very quick to point out that it was disturbing. They said, the precision of the violence. Oh wow, they actually made that point. But again, he's a trained sniper, so that actually shouldn't be that surprising any us. They talked about how they do believe he scoped out at the released the scene the night before, but they do suggest that maybe he
intended on committing his act on Friday versus Saturday. But when they searched his home he owns he has a home, a boat, and a vehicle. They said they found multiple firearms. They did not say whether or not any of those were the firearms used in the attack, but they did say he had multiple firearms. Now, the reporters who were able to witness the hearing, he did appear via zoom from his jail cell, they say he was emotionless, that
he remained silent during the hearing. He had requested a court appointed attorney, and there's going to be another hearing next month, October thirteenth, I believe. And it was quick and to the point, but we did get an idea of where the prosecutors are in this and they do believe they will possibly seek the death penalty.
Okay, So this was Nigel Edge is what he goes by now, But a couple of years ago he changed his name from Sean William deba voice now that was his name ancient in twenty twenty three. The reason he gave at the time for wanting to change his name was that he thought there have been a lot and I'm quoting here, there have been a lot of events in my life that I don't understand. Therefore, I do not trust my family and I would feel more comfortable starting my life in a new path with a new name.
That is just the start of a lot of bizarre things we're kind of finding out about his background. What's not bizarre to hear this Robes a marine from two thousand and three to two thousand and nine, deployed Operation a Rocky Freedom twice two thousand and five, two thousand and six. His list of awards, ribbons, and accolades is hero stuff.
It's unbelievable. So he these were his awards. I mean, these are the highest honors. When we say a highly decorated marine. This is about as highly decorated as you can get. He had a purple heart. He received the Marine Corps Good c Conduct Medal, Combat Action Ribbon for service in Iraq see Service Deployment Ribbon, two Bronze Stars, a Humanitarian Service Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, and more. I mean, the list goes on and on. He was it appears to be a model, exemplary marine.
And he was injured, right, so there's still we don't have all the details about exactly what happened to him, but he was injured pretty severely. It appears during his service. Now he went on. Now he stayed in the area. What was the name of the town, I don't have it in front of him. Southward, but that was another town he was from. But they said he had been in the area for several years and in that time.
In the past several years, he has been filing lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit against just about everybody and to the point where the judge had to issue in order to get him to stop filing lawsuit. Correct, it got that kind of bad. To give you an idea. He has sued police departments, hospitals, a church, all for various and bizarre sounding reasons.
Bro Yes in the church he sued back in May, he accused the church of trying to make him commit suicide because quote, he is not lgb QT or a pedophile, so he got it a little mixed up that acronym. But that is bizarre, obviously. And then when he made the claim against his parents, including that they falsified a birth certificate for a feral child, his mother in response, this is all in court documents, you can read it. This is her quote. Plaintiff suffers from war injuries, and
he suffers from delusions and PTSD. The VA needs to take care of him with three exclamation points. That is from his mother, Sondra, in response to the lawsuit one of the lawsuits he filed against them and his own parents.
You know what we didn't mention as well, the severity of his injuries we were talking about. Came back and was told he was not going to walk. He switched hospitals and stuck at it and was ended up, yes, walking again, but he was told he wouldn't walk again.
You know what's crazy. There was a news story about him. I mean, this was a kid who was I say a kid. He's forty years old now, but this was a man who will get into all of the things he did when he came back. But he was a news story.
He was a big deal.
So the Wilmington Star News described him as a marine sniper who'd been left for dead after being shot four times, including in the head, during a raid on a warehouse in a rock. This happened in May of two thousand and six, and they were the story that they were doing about and he was trying to raise money to start a com commercial fishing business, so you know, he was trying to get his life back together. But they said he was shot in the head and the shoulder
and the hip and in the ankle. I believe, And yes, he was wheelchair bound and said he would never walk again. But he walked again with a cane, and he went through enough physical therapy that he was able to overcome all of those injuries. But what he it seems, was not able to overcome was the traumatic brain injury that he suffered when he was shot in the head.
And they all, I say they all, but certainly the authorities say he didn't have really much of a police record of any kind of him. But they were aware he had mental health issues. Severe mental health issues, is what they said. The lawsuits that he was piling up. You mentioned the church he claimed a church was trying to murder him by poisoning, and another lawsuit he claimed the hospital tried to murder him after they found out he had quote survived a hate crime by the LGBTQ
white supremacists. I mean, just what is going on with this guy? But he was. It just kept coming in lawsuit and lawsuit and lawsuits, so they had to cut him off from having the privilege to do so.
Look, and my question is they're cutting him off from filing lawsuits. They're recognizing a very detailed pattern of mental health. He obviously has a traumatic brain injury that you can clearly point to. How in the hell I didn't think someone with that documented mental health issues would be allowed to have a gun, let alone multiple firearms, and knowing that he was a sniper, knowing that he was trained
at his weapons. I know people didn't believe he was actually going to turn to violence, but if someone has these delusions that someone's trying to kill him or people are coming after him, that's paranoia. That wouldn't be a big stretch to say maybe this person shouldn't have access to a gun or multiple guns.
I haven't seen anything on that yet where he got it, if he legally acquired, And also haven't seen rope They talking about mental health. Was he ever documented in such a way that would have prevented him from buying a weapon. These things, in these questions need to be answered. The victims are the ones yes today, and they're families who matter MO And we don't know the victims' names yet their identities, but we'll talk about them when we find
them out. But it is in this case, in particular robes so important that we do I have to talk about the shooter today, the alleged shooter today, and the background of this person, because those families are gonna want to know why, and if they don't get a good enough answer from the alleged shooter, they're gonna go Okay,
then why did the VA not look at him? Why didn't they They're gonna want to know an answer that maybe he can't give them, but they're gonna want to know that before that, well, who was it who was taking care of this guy, keeping an eye on this guy, making sure he got the help he needed it, Because it seems so obvious this wasn't. Oh, he was such a nice guy, kind of like it was documented. It was for years, it sounds.
Like, yes, and his injuries were well documented as well. I mean, this young man at the time suffered greatly and now so many families are suffering because he was literally twisting in the wind.
Ah. Well, folks, he actually published a book. He self published a book. The name of it Headshot, Betrayal of a Nation. Stay here, you'll want to hear what this book is about.
Continuing now on this episode of Amy and TJ, we are talking about the suspect Nigel Edge, forty years old, former marine, a highly decorated marine who is now charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder after he opened fire while folks were enjoying a beautiful night, a beautiful Saturday night at a water beautiful restaurant right on the water in North Carolina, enjoying their night nine thirty pm from a boat. He had an
assault rifle, he had a scope. He shot his victims in the head, And of course everyone wants to know why, how did this happen? It's always the question we have. There is never a good answer to explain away something of this magnitude. But he was in court today. We heard a little bit about what prosecutors are going to be doing next, and it's likely they will seek the
death penalty against him. But we're also learning so much about this former marine who had a bright career, was a he had the highest honors of marine could get after serving his country, and yet here we are today with him charged with heinous crimes. And to make things even more bizarre, pictures are surfacing and we can go back and look even on social media. He ended up in twenty twelve Kelly Pickler American idol is Kelly Pickler. You know where she's from, North Carolina. Big star around
the country, but certainly in that state. In North Carolina. He ended up escorting her to the CMA Awards. Correct back in twenty twelve. CMTSMT sorry, CMT sorry.
I get them coming Yeah, he ended up, as the story went at the time, he had met her somewhere and just invited her to a charity event. She couldn't attend that because the schedule and followed up, and he escorted her that night and was her date. And she was married at the times. It wasn't like they were dating, if you will, but it was a nice gesture. She thought enough of them. He impressed her enough. He had his service dog with him on the red carpet, even
rusty that night. So those pictures are out there, and that's the guy we're talking about, Folks, when you go look up those pictures, that's the guy accused of gunning down folks who were sitting outside enjoying drinks and listening to music.
Yeah, he looks like somebody who you would see and say thank you for your service, sir, somebody who you would show deep respect to, and certainly never expect this kind of violence or for him to do these heinous things that police say he did. And certainly it's just such a an about face doesn't seem to be the right phrase, but it is such a departure from what you would expect. And so when you start to dig in and see what happened to this man and where he is now and the best way to do that. Yes,
we can look at the lawsuits he's filed. We can hear from his parents who have certainly we're screaming for help from the VA to say, please help our son. He's not well, he's delusional, he's suffering from traumatic brain injury. But he actually self published a book.
Yeah, I mean, I had to go look this up. It's still out there till on Amazon. But even the name of it, Headshot Betrayal of a Nation, even that's heavy. But take a listen to what he describes robes and this is part of the description of the book on Amazon, and I'm quoting taking four bullets, including one to the head Sewn he was Sean at the time. Shawn's life would never be the same. But it was the fact that all of this was at the hand of friendly
fire that would provide the most crippling mental damage. Sean deba voice was nearly killed by his own marines, and for reasons that are boggling to the outside mind. Putting the pieces together. Still today, Sewn has come to realize that a dangerous web was woven between the US Marines, a hunger for honor and jealousy that traced all the way back to his family home. It sounds almost like fiction is being written.
It does, and none of this specifically has been corroborated. I mean, clearly history. It was injured. But he went on to say Seawan killed insurgents on that fateful day when he was locked in a warehouse and left to die by his own men. Returning home, the nightmare seemed
to become even more horrifying. Although he has worked tirelessly to recover the use of his body and reclaim his life from those who did everything in their power to take it from him, he still grapples with a mysterious story that the US military doesn't want you to know. This is Sean's story and it's being told for the first time with unflinching honesty.
Wow, I mean wow, just wow, Just what was going on with this guy? And look it's it's it's it's weird for your heart to hurt for the guy accused of doing this. Right, it just is we supposed to just see's a monster. You should go to jail for the rest of his life. And who knows what was really going on, but just it was a very quick picture that was painted of yes, there was something going on with him in your heart hurts for everybody certainly today.
Man, you know who I think of right now? I think of our dear friend and God we love him, Bob Woodruff, who was injured and also had a traumatic brain injury while he was covering a war zone, and he has spent and dedicated his life, he and his wife Lee to helping servicemen and women who found themselves
in the same ble. But they've had to step in and they privately have funded so much help and care for these men and women because our government doesn't provide enough, and they are on their bullhn horn and sounding alarms for people for decades now, trying to raise awareness about the fact that we as a nation do not take care of our men and women who are wounded, especially those with traumatic head injuries when they come back home.
And so I applaud Bob and Lee for all that they do, because this is an extreme example, this is worst case scenario. But we need more help for the men and women who come back and are helpless in a lot of ways, and we put them on those battlefields and we need to take care of them when they come home.
Like we said, it sounds like a tragedy on top of tragedy. More details to come, would you say? Next week?
October thirteenth? This is next hearing?
All right, well, folks, we just wanted to hop on on this one with the updates. But as always on my malf of Amy Robach, I am TJ. Holmes. I always appreciate you all spending some time with us