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Pizzagate gunman who stormed Comet Ping Pong in 2016, killed by NC police


The conspiracy theorist who entered the Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington DC with two guns in late 2016 as part of the The Pizzagate hysteria was shot by police on January 4 and died last Monday, according to a press release from the Kannapolis Police Department in North Carolina. Edgar Maddison Welch was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by police on the night of Saturday, January 4 while driving a gray 2001 GMC Yukon, according to a Kannapolis Police Department.

“The officer recognized the vehicle as one usually driven by an individual he had previously arrested, and knew he had an outstanding warrant. A stop of the vehicle was made by the officer and during his interaction with the driver, the officer recognized the front seat passenger as the person with the outstanding arrest warrant,” Kannapolis Police said in a statement.

The police department statement says the officer was speaking with the driver when two other officers arrived on the scene, and the first officer began to open the front passenger door.

“When (the officer) opened the door, the front seat passenger pulled a handgun from his jacket and pointed it in the officer’s direction,” the police statement said. “This officer and a second officer standing in the rear passenger side of the Yukon gave commands to the passenger to drop the gun. After the passenger failed to respond to their repeated demands, both officers fired the his service weapon to the passenger, hitting him.

The police statement said that medical attention was “immediately called for the passenger” and Welch was transported to Atrium Health Cabarrus hospital in Concord before being transferred to an Atrium hospital in Charlotte when he died on January 6.

“The three traffic officers stopped, along with the driver and a rear seat passenger of the Yukon were not injured in this incident,” the statement said.

The officers who fired their shots have been identified as Officer Brooks Jones and Officer Caleb Tate, who are now on administrative leave, though they have not released details on how many shots were fired. shot and that they were able to hit Welch. A third officer at the scene who was not identified did not fire his weapon.

In December 2016, Welch drove from North Carolina to Washington DC in search of kidnapped and abused children who he believed were being held in the restaurant’s basement, a conspiracy theory involving former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton who became extremely popular online before the 2016 election. Welch entered the Comet Ping Pong with an AR-15 and a revolver, having a rifle in his car, and sent families with children fleeing in terror. Welch was confused when he was told that Comet Ping Pong did not have a basement, a central feature of the conspiracy theory that children were trafficked and abused there. Pizzagate was started after emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta were released by WikiLeaks and conspiracy theorists became obsessed with discussing pizza and the Washington DC pizzeria by name.

Alex Jones was instrumental in helping push the conspiracy theory, along with other right-wing influencers like Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec. Here in 2024, Posobiec has become even more influential as the editor of Human Events, a “news” that produces articles sometimes shared by President-elect Donald Trump. Cernovich also has some influence here in the 2020s, as someone who often interacts with billionaire Elon Musk.

“When I think of all the children that Hillary Clinton has personally murdered and maimed and violated, I’m not afraid to stand up to her,” Jones said in a since-deleted ad. YouTube videos published on November 4, 2016, according to a Washington Post. “Yes, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton personally murdered children. I just can’t hold back the truth anymore.”

Jones was later banned from YouTube and several other mainstream social media platforms, but was allowed to return to X after Musk bought the site. The InfoWars host has yet to comment on Welch’s murder, but it seems like a safe bet that he eventually will.

Welch ultimately pleaded guilty in 2017 to interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition and was sentenced to four years in prison. After his arrest, Welch told the New York Times“I regret how I handled the situation” but still seemed convinced that the Pizzagate conspiracy theory was true, conceding only that “the intelligence on it was not 100%.”



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