Overview

• Officials say a gunman fired from a boat at the American Fish Company in Southport around 9:30 p.m., killing three people and wounding at least eight.
• The assailant’s vessel paused at the dockside venue before opening fire, then sped off along the Intracoastal Waterway.
• A U.S. Coast Guard crew later spotted a person matching the suspect’s description pulling a boat from the water near Oak Island, and that person was detained for questioning.
• The City of Southport issued a shelter-in-place alert as local police, the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, the State Bureau of Investigation, and Coast Guard units canvassed the area on water and land.
• Authorities have not released a suspect identity or motive, and they cautioned that social media claims naming a suspect remain unverified.