Gun-Toting Assailant Sails Up To Bar, Fatally Shoots 3, Injures 8

6:32 AM PST -- The Southport Police Department arrested and charged a man named Nigel Edge in relation to the mass shooting Saturday night, court docs obtained by TMZ reveal.

He has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

A bond has not yet been set and he is due in court on Monday.

Another day, another mass shooting with multiple fatalities ... but this one had a bit of a plot twist — the assailant used a boat.

Here's what happened ... the suspect sailed up the Cape Fear river to the front of the American Fish Company saloon in Southport, North Carolina at about 9:30 PM ET Saturday, according to Southport spokesperson ChyAnn Ketchum.

Ketchum says the assailant stopped the boat to open fire on the patrons in an outdoor bar area, killing 3 people and injuring 8 others.

The shooter then sailed away, heading up the Intercoastal Waterway toward Oak Island, a North Carolina beach town, Ketchum said.

She added the police are currently questioning a person of interest in connection with the shooting but wouldn't say if it was the person on the boat.

As for the wounded victims, their conditions and the extent of their injuries were not immediately available.