The water carried the gunman in, and the water carried him out. Around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 27, a shooter eased up by boat to the American Fish Company—a beloved open-air bar on Southport, North Carolina’s waterfront—and opened fire on a crowd enjoying a coastal night. Three people were killed . At least eight were wounded. The killer throttled away down the Intracoastal like a hit-and-run driver on a dark liquid highway.

The Attack: A Maritime Ambush

Witness accounts and police statements align on the bones of the timeline. A small craft nosed along the Cape Fear River by the bar’s deck, shots erupted into the crowd, and the vessel fled toward Oak Island. Roughly thirty minutes later, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted a person loading a boat at a public ramp on Oak Island a

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