A man fired a gun inside a restaurant in the nation’s capital after being motivated to do so by a fake online conspiracy theory called “Pizzagate” nearly a decade ago, was shot by North Carolina police during a traffic stop over the weekend.

Edgar Madison Welsh was a passenger in a car stopped by officers in Kannapolis Saturday night, according to a news release from the Kannapolis Police Department. An officer identified the vehicle as that of someone they arrested who had an outstanding warrant for a felony probation violation – Welsh, police said.

When officers approached the vehicle to arrest Welch, police said the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at one of the officers. After he was instructed to drop the weapon but did not, two officers shot Welch, authorities said.

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Paramedics took Welch to the hospital and he died from his injuries two days later, according to the statement. None of the officers, the driver, or another passenger were injured.

In 2016, authorities said, Welch drove from North Carolina with an assault rifle to Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington after believing a baseless conspiracy theory that prominent Democrats were running a child sex trafficking ring out of the pizzeria. The bogus theory, dubbed “Pizzagate,” began spreading online during the 2016 presidential election.

He entered the restaurant armed, and as customers fled the scene, Welch shot a locked cabinet inside. After realizing that no children were being held at the pizzeria, Welch surrendered peacefully. No one was injured.

At the time, Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis said the conspiracy theory and subsequent violence resulting from it left him and his staff traumatized.

Welch later pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition and assault with a dangerous weapon in 2017. His judge, now Superior Court Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson, sentenced him to four years in prison.

Annette Previte Keller, communications director for the city of Kannapolis, confirmed that the man who died was the same person involved in the “Pizzagate” incident.

The killing of Welch, a Salisbury resident, is being reviewed by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the officers who shot him are on administrative leave, according to department protocol.

& Edition 2025 The Canadian Press