'Pizzagate' gunman killed by police during traffic stop in North Carolina
Edgar Maddison Welch traveled from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., in 2016 and fired shots in Comet Ping Pong restaurant, acting on a conspiracy theory that had spread online.
The "pizzagate" gunman who fired his rifle in a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant in 2016, acting on a debunked conspiracy theory, has died after police shot him in a traffic stop.
Edgar Maddison Welch was shot by police over the weekend and died from his injuries Monday, authorities in North Carolina said Thursday.
Almost 10 years ago, Welch made national headlines when he traveled to the nation's capital from North Carolina and fired shots in the Comet Ping Pong restaurant, spurred by a conspiracy theory that had spread online.
Prosecutors said at the time that Welch was trying to investigate an internet conspiracy theory about the pizza restaurant's being home to a child sex-trafficking ring connected to prominent Democratic politicians, a false claim that became known as "pizzagate."
Welch, who was 28 when the incident occurred, ended up surrendering to police after he did not find evidence to support the conspiracy theory, according to court documents at the time.
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