Two mass shootings, both suspects were Marines who served at Camp Lejeune

Two mass shootings in two states over the weekend involved suspects who both served in the Marines.

Three people were killed at a waterfront restaurant in Southport, N.C. At least four are dead in the attack on a Michigan church.

In each case, the man suspected of opening fire had served in the Marines, deployed to Iraq and finished his military service at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

In Southport on Saturday night, locals and visitors listened to live music and dined on fresh seafood at American Fish Company before shots rang out from a passing boat. An Oak Island man, 40-year-old Nigel Edge, was quickly taken into custody. He told police that he suffers from PTSD.

In Michigan on Sunday, authorities say, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, attacked a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township. 

There are parallels in the military careers of the two men. 

Edge, then named Sean William DeBevoise, enlisted in 2003. Sanford joined up a year later. 

DeBevoise deployed to Iraq twice in his six years in the Corps. He left the military in 2009. Records show his final assignment was with the Wounded Warrior Battalion East at Camp Lejeune.

Sanford served from 2004 to 2008. He deployed to Iraq in 2007. His final assignment was with the 2nd Marine Logistics Group at Camp Lejeune.

Both men left the Corps at the rank of sergeant.

It's not clear whether Sanford and DeBevoise (who changed his name to Edge in 2023) ever crossed paths. The United States Marine Corps numbers more than 150,000 active duty personnel at any given time.