A man who gained national attention in 2016 for invading a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., with multiple firearms—part of an unsuccessful effort to validate an outrageous conspiracy theory connected to Hilary Clinton—was shot and killed by police.
Edgar Maddison Welch was fatally shot by law enforcement in Kannapolis, North Carolina, on Saturday night during a traffic stop, as confirmed by the city’s police department in a statement issued to the Daily Beast.
More than eight years prior, Welch burst into Comet Ping Pong armed with an AR-15 and a .38 caliber revolver, intending to reveal a fictitious pedophilia network supposedly tied to Clinton. The conspiracy theory gained traction in right-wing communities, fueled by QAnon, a widely spread extremist narrative claiming that Democrats ran an international sex trafficking operation and conspired against Donald Trump to hide their actions.
During the incident at the restaurant, Welch discharged one round; fortunately, no injuries occurred as a result.
Welch later expressed to The New York Times: “I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way… I regret how I handled the situation.”
In 2017, he pleaded guilty to charges related to the interstate transport of a firearm and ammunition, as well as assault with a dangerous weapon. Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would later become a Supreme Court Justice, sentenced him to four years in prison as a district judge in D.C. In 2020, he was released from incarceration to a halfway house, according to the Washington Post.
The events of Saturday night began around 10 p.m. when officers stopped an SUV that had an outstanding warrant for felony probation violation, according to Kannapolis police.
Welch was a passenger in the SUV, but police quickly recognized him as the individual associated with the warrants. Two more officers arrived at the scene for support, police indicated.
When one officer opened the door on the passenger side to apprehend Welch, he reportedly brandished a handgun, according to police reports.
The officers present instructed Welch numerous times to drop the weapon, but he allegedly ignored their commands. Two of the three officers then discharged their weapons, hitting him multiple times.
Welch was taken to Atrium-Cabarrus hospital for medical attention and later moved to Atrium-Charlotte, where he succumbed to his injuries. According to police, the driver of the SUV was not hurt during the incident.
The shooting is currently under standard investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
