Nigel Edge, the man accused of a fatal mass shooting at a North Carolina restaurant on Saturday night (September 27), once accompanied American Idol star Kellie Pickler to the CMT Music Awards and recently filed a lawsuit against her for allegedly trying to kill him at the event.
North Carolina authorities arrested Edge on Saturday after he was alleged to have opened fire at the American Fish Company restaurant in Southport Yacht Basin, killing three people and injuring five others. Per the New York Post, law enforcement sources said Edge, a former Marine, suffers from PTSD and believes several Q-Anon conspiracy theories.
After his arrest was made public, it was discovered that Edge once escorted Pickler to the CMT Music Awards back in 2012. There are photos of the pair on the red carpet, with Edge, then known as Sean Debevoise (he filed to change his name in 2023), wearing his Marine uniform and accompanied by his service dog Rusty.
At the time, Edge posted about his date with Pickler, saying, per Taste of Country, “I am ecstatic about being here at the CMT Music Awards with Kellie, even more to consider her a friend. She is the most sincere person I know. She is an angel.”
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT
However, according to court documents obtained by TMZ, Edge sued Picker in February 2025, accusing her of trying to poison him on the night they attended the CMT Music Awards together. The lawsuit alleges that the country singer poisoned Edge’s glass of Jim Beam, and he only survived because he didn’t drink it.
Pickler has not publicly responded to the claims.
The suit against Pickler is one of many bizarre lawsuits Edge has filed over the past year. According to the NY Post, this includes numerous allegations that a cabal of “LGBTQ White Supremacists” and pedophiles were trying to kill him because he’s a “straight man.”
He also accused the Brunswick Medical Centre of trying to murder him. That lawsuit, along with others, has already been dismissed.
Edge is due in court today, Monday (September 28), where he faces three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Pickler rose to fame on the fifth season of Idol, where she finished in sixth place. Her debut album, Small Town Girl, was released in 2006 and has sold over 900,000 copies. In 2013, she won Season 16 of Dancing With the Stars alongside her pro partner Derek Hough. She also hosted the syndicated daytime TV talk show Pickler & Ben with comedian Ben Aaron from 2017 to 2019.
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