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A Weekend of Carnage: The Michigan Church Inferno and North Carolina Bar Bloodbath
Media & Technology Morality Analyst
September 29, 2025
by Jaymie Johns
The Weekend
In a grim 24-hour span that has left communities reeling, two brazen attacks have claimed seven lives and injured more than a dozen others, thrusting the nation back into the familiar nightmare of mass violence. On Saturday night, a gunman docked his boat at a lively waterfront bar in Southport, North Carolina, and unleashed a hail of bullets into a crowd of revelers. Less than fourteen hours later, another assailant plowed his truck into a Michigan church during Sunday services, spraying gunfire and igniting an inferno that trapped worshippers inside. Seven were killed and at least thirteen were wounded. And a chilling thread: both suspects are Iraq War veterans in their forties.
The incidents, occurring amid a year already scarred by over 320 mass shootings according to the Gun Violence Archive, have sparked immediate headlines tying the attacks to military service—a narrative that demands scrutiny. While the veteran angle is undeniable, early reporting risks oversimplifying complex motives, from potential religious hatred to unchecked access to military-grade weaponry. As investigations unfold, let's separate the facts from the rush to frame these tragedies as symptoms of a "broken veteran" epidemic.
The North Carolina Night of Terror: A Boat-Borne Assault
It was meant to be a carefree evening at the American Fish Company, a popular Southport bar perched on the Intracoastal Waterway where live music drew crowds to the outdoor deck for drinks and dancing. Around 10 p.m. on September 27, the idyll shattered as a small boat pulled up unannounced. From the vessel, forty year-old Nigel Max Edge— a decorated U.S. Marine veteran who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq and legally changed his name in 2023—opened fire with an assault rifle, targeting patrons without warning.
The barrage lasted mere minutes but was devastating: three people killed instantly, with at least five others wounded—though some reports cite up to eight injuries, including gunshot wounds and trauma from the chaos. Witnesses described patrons diving for cover behind tables and into the water, as bullets riddled the deck. "It was like something out of a movie—people screaming, glass shattering, and this guy just standing there on his boat, firing away," one survivor told local affiliate WWAY.
Edge, a Southport resident with no prior criminal record, fled by water but was apprehended within an hour by a joint Coast Guard and Oak Island Police Department team. He's now held without bond on three counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors have labeled it a "premeditated lone wolf attack" and are weighing the death penalty, citing Edge's methodical approach: He reportedly scouted the venue earlier that day. No manifesto or clear motive has surfaced, though friends described him as increasingly isolated post-service.
Social media erupted overnight, with users decrying the ease of the escape route via water and questioning why a veteran with Edge's background—honorably discharged but struggling with reintegration—had access to a high-powered rifle. Yet, as one X post noted amid the outrage, "This wasn't random rage—it was calculated. Blaming PTSD without evidence just stigmatizes every vet."
Faith Under Fire: The Michigan Church Catastrophe
The horror didn't end with dawn. On September 28, as congregants gathered for morning services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan—a suburb 50 miles north of Detroit—Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, another Iraq War-era Marine veteran, accelerated his pickup truck through barricades and into the building's entrance. Hundreds were inside when he exited the vehicle, armed with an assault rifle, and began shooting indiscriminately before dousing the sanctuary in accelerant and setting it ablaze.
The dual assault—vehicular ramming, gunfire, and arson—left four dead and eight injured, with victims ranging from elders to children escaping smoke-filled pews. Firefighters battled flames for hours, but the chapel was gutted. Sanford, who lived nearby, was killed in a fierce shootout with responding officers—no officers were harmed. A subsequent search found no additional bodies, but the toll on the tight-knit Mormon community is incalculable; funerals are already being planned.
The FBI has classified it as "targeted violence," with early indicators pointing to religious animus—Sanford had reportedly posted anti-LDS rhetoric online in the weeks prior. Unlike Edge's seaborne ambush, this felt personal, almost ritualistic. "He didn't just want to kill; he wanted to desecrate," said one investigator anonymously.
The Veteran Link: Coincidence or Cautionary Tale?
What binds these atrocities? Both perpetrators: 40-year-old Marines who deployed to Iraq in the mid-2000s, returned stateside, and now stand accused of unthinkable violence. Outlets from Hindustan Times to Fox News have hammered the "two Iraq vets in 72 hours" headline, evoking specters of untreated trauma and a "ticking time bomb" among the 2.7 million post-9/11 veterans. It's a compelling hook, amplified on X where users speculate about "war's long shadow" and call for better VA support.
But hold the rush to archetype. No official reports cite PTSD, substance abuse, or service-related breakdowns for either man—Sanford was employed as a mechanic, Edge as a boat repairman, both seemingly stable on paper. Linking them solely via military service risks pathologizing an entire generation of heroes, ignoring the elephants in the room: America's lax assault weapon laws (both used AR-15-style rifles legally purchased) and rising hate crimes. The Michigan attack screams anti-Mormon bigotry, a bias that's spiked 20% since 2020 per FBI data. In North Carolina? It could be misogyny, road rage spillover, or sheer opportunism—no "vet crisis" required.
This narrative also drowns out the real pattern: Per the Gun Violence Archive, these join four other mass shootings over the weekend alone, from a Texas casino to Bourbon Street. Veterans aren't the epidemic; easy gun access is. Of the 650+ mass shootings since 2022, fewer than 5% involve vets—a far cry from the "broken soldier" trope media loves.
As vigils light up Grand Blanc and Southport, the predictable cycle churns: Thoughts and prayers from politicians, fleeting outrage on social feeds, then silence until the next alert. But these attacks— one a watery hit-and-run, the other a fiery siege—defy easy buckets. They expose fault lines in hate, hardware, and how we honor (or abandon) our shared humanity.
Challenging the vet-villain script isn't dismissal; it's demand for depth. Probe the bigotry in Michigan, secure the waterways in Carolina. And for God's sake, curb the firepower flooding our streets.
Seven families shattered this weekend deserve more than a hasty headline—they deserve action that prevents the eighth.
Jaymie Johns
Beyond Prayers and Profiles
Media & Technology Morality Analyst
Jaymie Johns
Way to go young lady! You are so right about the tendency to rush to judgment before all of the facts are clear. I certainly would not want to stereotype Veterans. However, I do thing that they all deserve better physical and mental health services than they seem to receive. I personally wish none of them had been sent to the Middle East, but since they were the authorities that sent them should foot the bill. As for gun violence, we actually know how to reduce it significantly within the Second Amendment. There is just no will to do the things that would have an effect.