Gunman in ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy attack fatally shot by North Carolina police
Gunman in ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy attack fatally shot by North Carolina police
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During traffic stop, officers fire at Edgar Welch, 2016 shooter at eatery mistakenly thought to be center of pedophile ring. The gunman involved in the 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory attack on a Washington DC pizza restaurant that was mistakenly thought to be at the center of a pedophile ring has died after being shot by police in North Carolina during a traffic stop.
In a news release issued on Thursday, North Carolina’s Kannapolis police department announced that Edgar Maddison Welch died from his wounds caused by two police officers who fired at him after he pulled out a handgun during a traffic stop on Saturday.
In 2016, Welch made headlines when he drove from his North Carolina home and stormed into the Washington DC-based Comet Ping Pong restaurant, where he fired an assault rifle inside. Although no injuries were reported, two weapons were found inside the restaurant and another one was recovered from Welch’s vehicle, police said at the time.
According to police, Welch had come to the restaurant to “self-investigate” “Pizzagate”, a baseless conspiracy theory that falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief John Podesta were operating an underground child sex-trafficking ring from the restaurant’s backrooms.
In 2017, Welch pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and interstate transport of a firearm. In a later interview with the New York Times, Welch expressed regret towards his actions, saying: “I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way … I regret how I handled the situation.”.
