Pizzagate Gunman Who Stormed Comet Ping Pong in 2016 Killed by NC Police

The conspiracy theorist who entered Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington D.C. with two guns in late 2016 as part of the Pizzagate hysteria was shot by police on Jan. 4 and died this past 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 Jan. 4 while driving a gray 2001 GMC Yukon, according to the Kannapolis Police Department.

“The officer recognized the vehicle as one normally driven by an individual who he had previously arrested, and knew had an outstanding warrant for arrest. A vehicle stop 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 warrant for arrest,” the Kannapolis Police said in a statement.

The police department’s statement says the officer was speaking with the driver when two more officers arrived on the scene, and the first officer proceeded to open the front passenger side door.

“When [the officer] opened the door, the front seat passenger pulled a handgun from his jacket and pointed it in the direction of the officer,” the police statement reads. “That officer and a second officer who was standing at the rear passenger side of the Yukon gave commands for the passenger to drop the gun. After the passenger failed to comply with their repeated requests, both officers fired their duty weapon at the passenger, striking him.”

The police statement claims medical assistance was “immediately summoned for the passenger” and Welch was transported to the Atrium Health Cabarrus hospital in Concord before being transferred to an Atrium hospital in Charlotte when he died on Jan. 6.

“The three officers on the traffic stop, along with the driver and a back seat passenger of the Yukon were all uninjured in this incident,” the statement reads.

The officers who fired their guns were identified as Officer Brooks Jones and Officer Caleb Tate, who are now on administrative leave, though specifics about how many shots were fired and who may have struck Welch were not released. A third officer on the scene who was not identified didn’t fire their weapon.

In Dec. 2016, Welch drove from North Carolina to Washington D.C. looking for kidnapped and abused children he believed were being held in the restaurant’s basement, a conspiracy theory involving former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that became extremely popular online in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Welch entered Comet Ping Pong with an AR-15 and a revolver, having a shotgun in his car, and sent families with children fleeing in terror. Welch was reportedly confused when he was told Comet Ping Pong had no basement, a central feature of the conspiracy theory that children were being trafficked and abused there. Pizzagate was started after emails from Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta were released by WikiLeaks and conspiracy theorists became obsessed with the discussion of pizza and the Washington D.C. pizza place 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” outlet that churns out articles sometimes shared by president-elect Donald Trump. Cernovich also has some influence here in the 2020s, as someone who frequently interacts with billionaire Elon Musk.

“When I think about all the children Hillary Clinton has personally murdered and chopped up and raped, I have zero fear standing up against her,” Jones said in a since-deleted YouTube video posted on Nov. 4, 2016, according to the Washington Post. “Yeah, you heard me right. Hillary Clinton has 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 not yet commented on Welch’s killing, 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 the Pizzagate conspiracy theory was real, only conceding that “the intel on this wasn’t 100%.”