The man who fired a semi-automatic rifle inside a Washington, D.C., restaurant in 2016 in search of a pedophile ring that didn't exist, an event that came to be known as "Pizzagate," was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop in North Carolina last week after pulling a gun on an officer.
Edgar Maddison Welch was shot by two officers on Jan. 4 in Kannapolis, North Carolina, after police say he pointed a gun in the direction of one, who recognized Welch as having an outstanding arrest warrant, the Salisbury Post reported Thursday. Welch, a passenger in a 2001 GMC Yukon that was linked to him, prompting police to pull it over, was shot after failing to comply with commands to drop the weapon.
Welch died from his injuries two days later at a hospital in nearby Charlotte, according to the report. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that Welch was the "pizzagate" shooter.
In December 2016, Welch entered Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun in search of a child trafficking ring he believed was happening inside with the intent of ending. A conspiracy theory circulating on the internet said that Democratic Party operatives were running a pedophile ring inside the restaurant. Welch fired shots into a locked door before ultimately surrendering.
No one was injured.
He would plead guilty to federal firearms charges and was sentenced to four years in prison by then-U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, now a Supreme Court justice. He was released in May 2020, The Washington Post reported.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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