Two U.S. Marines Commit Mass Shootings 13 Hours Apart

By Sue Kientz

This past weekend, two Iraq War veterans, both U.S. Marines, and both 40 years old, became mass murderers and turned typically safe places in quiet American towns into disaster zones. It began Saturday night, September 27, 2025, at around 9:30 p.m. in Southport, North Carolina, when Nigel Max Edge, a decorated Marine and purple heart recipient(1), killed three and wounded five by piloting a boat past a waterfront bar, opening fire, and escaping only to be captured an hour later. Then in middle America just 13 hours later at 10:25 a.m., Thomas Sanford drove a large pickup truck with two American flags strapped to the cab, directly into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan.(2) Sanford jumped out shooting and throwing accelerant everywhere, which he set on fire, causing a blaze that destroyed most of the church and made the subsequent search for survivors difficult. Law enforcement arrived in minutes and shot Sanford dead but were not quick enough to prevent him from murdering four people and injuring 10 others.

As always, questions began circulating as to why these men, who both served in the military and therefore were once willing to sacrifice their lives for their fellow Americans, would perpetrate such senseless suffering and death? In time, people will speak up, social media postings will be revealed, and some sort of explanation will be put forth, especially as one of the men will be tried for his crime. But what can astrology tell us now about these two men who had so much in common, including being born 40 years ago?

The Saturday night shooter, Edge, was born Sean William Debevoise in Suffern, New York(3) on October 25, 1984(4), and legally changed his name in 2023. This gives him Sun (2 Scorpio) conjunct (in close position, e.g., between 0-9 degrees) Pluto (2 Scorpio) and Mercury (11 Scorpio), a powerful yet deeply emotional personal combination that, in the mid-1980s, was often involved with two other dwarf planets; in his case, the Sun group (and Mercury most significantly) was square (90 degrees) Orcus (6 Leo), indicating he was highly concerned with law and order, a need for perfection, and/or pledging his life to a strong leader, and opposite (180 degrees) Sedna (8 Taurus), a very slow moving body that can present one with dauntingly difficult life challenges, like an illness or injury that takes a long time to overcome or adapt to, or emotional or mental problems that often need time and determination to conquer. While this might point to a family or loved one facing such challenges, therefore impacting the individual, it’s likely these represent problems that Edge himself was facing. In addition, dwarf planet Haumea (22 Virgo) was also semisquare his Mercury (symbolic of his mind, thinking, communication abilities), and Haumea usually challenges a person with disruptive changes or events that threaten one’s status quo, livelihood, or health, which (affecting Mercury) could lead to coping or communication difficulties.  

Just like the details of the two men’s crimes and personal background are uncannily similar, check out how the same elements also arise in Sanford’s birth alignments. Thomas Jacob Sanford of Burton, Michigan, was born July 29, 1985, as mentioned on MS-NBC during a weekend broadcast, which gives him Sun (6 Leo) conjunct Orcus (5 Leo) and Mars (2 Leo). His Sun group is square Pluto (2 Scorpio) on one side, and square Sedna (9 Taurus) on the other, forming a T-square just as Edge’s Sun-Pluto-Mercury with Orcus and Sedna also describe a T-square (e.g., two planets or groups of planets that oppose one another, with the opposition bisected by another planet or group of planets). Additionally, Sanford’s Sun is semisquare Haumea (21 Virgo), bringing that feeling of extreme danger or threat of upsetting change, not to his mental state as in Edge’s case, but to his very life (Sun represents one’s life, health, and happiness).

Here’s a way you might understand how hard it is to have such a T-square in your chart, at least if you are old enough to remember these incidents (but you can also look them up). Every 3 months in the mid-1980s, the Sun and often Mercury and Venus, would get into this same described T-square as above and here’s some of the worst things that happened:

• January 28, 1986, 11:38 a.m. ET Cape Canaveral. The Challenger Space Shuttle blew up at launch, at Sun (8 Aquarius) Mercury (6 Aquarius) Venus (10 Aquarius), all square Pluto (7 Scorpio), square Sedna (8 Taurus), and opposite Orcus (6 Leo).  All the astronauts were lost, including elementary school teacher Christa McAuliffe who was to teach a class from space. This horrific incident was broadcast live on network television and traumatized the nation to say the least. It was later revealed that there were fears (Pluto) about the cold (Sedna) weather’s impact on the equipment, but NASA management (Orcus) ignored concerns and insisted the launch proceed. The cold indeed affected some rubber O-rings that caused the breach of the rocket boosters.
• April 26, 1986, 1:23 a.m. Chernobyl, Ukraine. One of the Chernobyl reactors exploded, releasing radioactive steam which led to the eventual deaths of thousands of civilians in the nearby area. At the time of this deadly emission, Sun (5 Taurus) conjunct Sedna (8 Taurus) was square Orcus (5 Leo) and opposite Pluto (5 Scorpio).
• In the mid-1980s, the spread of the HIV virus was causing the AIDS epidemic, sickening and terrifying people all over the world, until certain drug cocktails developed in the 1990s enabled those affected to live with the virus. The fear (Pluto) and suffering (Sedna), and how many in government (Orcus) delayed addressing the crisis, is well represented by this devastating T-square.

Certainly it’s not the 1980s now, so how do these men decide to commit these extremely violent crimes? Here’s what was happening “in transit” in the sky during this key time, which represents some trigger in Edge’s and Sanford’s lives that led to their unconscionable acts:

• Edge: On Saturday night, Haumea (2 Scorpio) and Mars (4 Scorpio) were conjunct his Sun and Pluto (both 2 Scorpio), and Mercury (11 Scorpio), and in some way this encouraged him to try to change his situation (Haumea) by some action (Mars) that he felt would either make him feel vindicated, or released from some pressure or pain. At the same time transiting Pluto (1 Aquarius) was square his Sun/Pluto, which symbolizes that he then lost control (Pluto: power, control) of his life when he was arrested by police at the boat launch where he exited the water. Orcus (17 Virgo) is semisquare his Sun and Pluto, representing how the courts will have sway over his future as he is prosecuted for his crime. The one positive, perhaps, is Haumea conjunct his Sun/Pluto did not take his life and will enable him to express himself in court as to his grievances, but he will also have to face the terrible grief and anger of his victim’s loved ones.
• Sanford: Early Sunday morning, Haumea and Mars (2 and 4 Scorpio) were square his Sun (6 Leo) Orcus (5 Leo) and Mars (2 Leo), a position that put his life in jeopardy because of the multiple risky ways he assaulted the church, ramming with his truck, then shooting, then starting an unmanageable fire (compare to Edge who used a boat that gave him distance and an escape, short-lived as that proved to be). Haumea/Mars activated his Mars (all that ramming, shooting, fire action) and Orcus (he went overboard on planning so many attack mechanisms), and this didn’t bode well for him surviving, but perhaps that was his intent. Pluto (1 Aquarius) was opposite his Sun, and within minutes Sanford lost all control of the situation once police arrived and were able to see who the cause of all the trouble was: the guy lit up by the massive fire, carrying an assault rifle.

Back to wondering about either man’s motive, expect that there will be little reason involved, and that might be simply or partly due to injuries or other trauma suffered in Iraq (this is not to excuse these abhorrent crimes).  Checking another useful technique, where you “forward” someone’s birth chart ahead 40 days, if they are 40 years old, and then consult that pattern, revealed that both shooters had another remarkable result at this juncture in their lives. Edge’s Mercury at 40 years old, moved to 0 Capricorn to exactly conjunct Neptune (0 Capricorn), and both trine (120 degrees, usually supporting or beneficial) dwarf planet Makemake (0 Virgo), a highly erratic and eccentric influence, especially for people coping with difficult situations or unusual stress. Neptune can represent artistic or religious tendencies, but in this case, one would suspect self-deception, narcotics or alcohol abuse (to self-medicate), or the tendency to fantasize taboo actions one deeply desires to carry out. Mercury/Neptune trine Makemake could generate a powerful concoction of dreams and wishful thinking that becomes more extreme and seductive the more those ideas are entertained and obsessed over. But Edge isn’t alone in that figure. Add 40 days to Sanford’s birth pattern, and you get Mercury (1 Virgo) conjunct Makemake (0 Virgo) trine Neptune (0 Capricorn) which says virtually the same thing, that his thinking (Mercury) has become wild and unmanageable (Makemake), yet he loves (the supportive trine makes it pleasurable) dreaming and fantasizing (Neptune) the unrealistic and potentially destructive details he envisions.

Title Image credit: Image described by the author to ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/).

Notes and References

1. Park, H., and Z. Sottile, “Marine veteran in custody after 3 killed, at least 8 injured in shooting at a waterfront bar in North Carolina, officials say,” CNN, 28 September 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/28/us/southport-yacht-basin-north-carolina-shooting-hnk
2. Elassar, A., M. Chowdhury, S. Smart, “At least 4 dead and 8 others wounded after shooting and fire at Michigan church,” CNN, 28 September 2025, https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/church-shooting-fire-michigan-09-28-25
3. “Man charged with killing 3 at waterfront North Carolina bar is decorated Marine veteran and Purple Heart recipient ,” CBS/AP, 29 September 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nigel-edge-north-carolina-bar-shooting-suspect-marine-veteran/  (mentions his home town)
4. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122187296558130687&set=pcb.122187297740130687 – video reel shows document with DOB “19841025,” i.e., 25 October 1984.

For more on Haumea, Sedna, Orcus and Makemake, see “Dwarf Planet Basics,” 6 November 2024, ANS, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/dwarf-planet-basics/

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” 12 November 2024, ANS, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/