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The conspiracy theorist who walked into the Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington in late 2016 with two guns Pizzagate hysteria He 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 car that was hit by police while driving on the night of January 4th. gray 2001 GMC Yukon, op Kannapolis Police Department.
“The officer recognized the vehicle as being typically driven by a person he had previously arrested and knew to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The vehicle was stopped by the officer and during contact with the driver, the officer identified the front seat passenger as having an outstanding warrant for his arrest,” Kannapolis Police said in a statement.
The police department said in a statement that when two more officers arrived on the scene, the officer was speaking with the driver and the first officer proceeded to open the front passenger side door.
“When (the officer) opened the door, the passenger sitting in the front seat pulled out a gun from his jacket and pointed it at the officer,” the police said in a statement. “That officer and a second officer standing in the rear passenger side of the Yukon ordered the passenger to drop the weapon. After the passenger did not fulfill their demands many times, both officers fired at the passenger from their service weapons and hit him.
A police statement said that medical assistance “was immediately called for the passenger,” and Welch was taken to Atrium Health Cabarrus Hospital in Concord before being transferred to Atrium Hospital in Charlotte, where he died Jan. 6.
“The three officers at the traffic stop, along with the driver and back seat passenger of the Yukon, were uninjured as a result of this incident,” the statement said.
The officers who fired their weapons were identified as Officer Brooks Jones, who is now on administrative leave, and Officer Caleb Tate, but it was unclear how many shots were fired or who may have shot Welch. The third officer who was at the scene and whose identity is not known, did not fire his weapon.
In December 2016, Welch traveled to Washington, D.C., from North Carolina, where he was believed to be harboring kidnapped and abused children in the basement of a restaurant. 2016 election. Welch drove into the Ping Pong Comet with an AR-15, a shotgun, and a revolver in his car, sending families with children fleeing in fear. Welch was reportedly confused when told that Comet Ping Pong did not have a basement, which has been a staple of the conspiracy theory that children are trafficked and abused. Pizzagate was launched after the WikiLeaks release of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s emails, and conspiracy theorists became obsessed with pizza and the names of pizza places in Washington.
Along with other right-wing influencers such as Alex Jones, Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, he helped push the conspiracy theory. Here in 2024, Posobiec became even more influential as the editor of Human Events, a “news” outlet that occasionally published articles shared by President-elect Donald Trump. Cernovich also has some influence here as someone who often interacts with billionaire Elon Musk in the 2020s.
“I’m not afraid to stand up to Hillary Clinton when I think of all the children she personally killed, dismembered and molested,” Jones said. YouTube video Posted on November 4, 2016 The Washington Post. “Yes, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton personally killed children. I can’t hold back the truth anymore.”
Jones was subsequently banned from YouTube and several other major social media platforms, but was allowed to return to X after Musk purchased the site. The InfoWars host has yet to comment on Welch’s killing, but it seems like a safe bet that he will eventually.
Welch eventually pleaded guilty in 2017 to interstate transportation of firearms and ammunition and was sentenced to four years in prison. Welch reported this after his arrest New York Times“I regret how I handled the situation,” but admitted that he still believed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory was real, but “wasn’t 100% informed about it.”