'Pizzagate' gunman who went viral in Democrat child sex conspiracy theory is shot dead in traffic stop

The infamous 'Pizzagate' gunman who opened fire at a restaurant in 2016 after believing in a Democrat child sex conspiracy theory has been shot dead during a traffic stop.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, of Salisbury, North Carolina, was shot and killed in Kannapolis on Saturday evening after cops recognized a gray 2001 GMC Yukon he was a passenger in. 

An officer soon realized that the passenger was Welch - someone who had an outstanding warrant for arrest for a felony probation violation. 

When the cop opened the passenger door to arrest Welch, Kannapolis Police Chief Terry L. Spry said that Welch 'pulled a handgun from his jacket and pointed it in the direction of the officer.' 

After failing to put the weapon down when asked to do so by authorities, the officers who stopped him 'fired their duty weapon' at Welch. 

Welch was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries two days later, police said. Nobody else was injured.  

On December 4, 2016, Welch terrorized people inside Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington D.C. with a loaded AR-15 assault rifle because he believed the unfounded conspiracy theory that Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring out of the pizzeria. 

After hearing the theory - which made waves during the 2016 presidential election, and linked to Hillary Clinton - Welch, then 28, stormed into the restaurant and shot a locked closet inside while panicked diners ran for their lives. 

After realizing no children were trapped inside, Welch surrendered to police. Nobody was injured during the mayhem. 

Welch was sentenced in 2017 to four years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of transporting firearms across state lines and assault with a dangerous weapon. 

U.S. District Judge Kentanji B. Jackson said that while no one was injured in the December 4 shooting, 'the extent of the recklessness in this case is breathtaking.' 

The judge said Welch 'forged ahead' with an 'ill-conceived plot' even though others urged him to abandon it. 

She added that Welch should have notified law enforcement if he really believed children were being harmed.

In court, the then 29-year-old, was accompanied by his mother, father, sister and fiancée in the courtroom, briefly apologized, saying his words 'cannot undo or change what already happened.'

Two Comet Ping Pong workers and owner James Alefantis also spoke before the sentencing. Alefantis called 'pizzagate' a 'vicious web of lies' and said many people had suffered because of Welch's actions.

Welch, a father-of-two, drove 300-some miles from North Carolina to Washington DC to personally investigate the conspiracy theory and rescue potential sex slaves.

The claims originated after Clinton's presidential campaign chairman John Podesta's emails were published on Wikileaks. 

Extrapolating emails that mentioned 'cheese pizza', internet users thought it was a code word for 'c.p.' or 'child pornography'. Podesta's correspondence with Alefantis also fanned the flames of speculation.

In a two-minute recording he made on the drive to the restaurant, Welch addressed his daughters and said: 'I can't let you grow up in a world that's so corrupt by evil without at least standing up for you, for other children just like you.'

As part of his guilty plea, Welch agreed to hand over the rifle, revolver, and a shotgun he left in his car at the time of the incident. He also agreed to pay the restaurant $5,744.33. 

In exchange, prosecutors dropped a third charge, possessing a firearm while committing a crime of violence, which carried a maximum sentence of 15 years.

In his one-page, handwritten letter filed with the court after the shooting, Welch said that he 'came to DC with the intent of helping people I believed were in dire need of assistance, and to bring an end to a corruption that I truly felt was harming innocent lives'.

He wrote that he wanted to apologize and that he acted without considering the repercussions of his actions or the possible harm.

'It was never my intention to harm or frighten innocent lives, but I realize now just how foolish and reckless my decision was,' he wrote.

Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis has said the 'pizzagate' hoax that spread on the internet threw the lives of everyone connected with the shop into chaos. 

Welch's attorney Dani Jahn asked for a 1.5 year sentence, citing Welch's previous work as an emergency medical technician and volunteer trip to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake there.

She wrote that he's an involved parent to his seven-year-old stepdaughter and four-year-old daughter.

Jahn also noted he surrendered peacefully after realizing that no children were being harmed at the restaurant. Welch was released from prison in 2021. 

Nearly a year after the attack, Hillary and Bill Clinton bought dozens of pizzas from the D.C. restaurant. 

'People could have gotten killed. He shot his automatic weapon off inside this pizza parlor,' Hillary said as she spoke with Politics & Prose's co-owner Lissa Muscatine onstage at D.C.'s Warner Theatre. 

Muscatine, a longtime friend and former speechwriter for Hillary, explained how the shooting had rattled the entire neighborhood.

'A few days after that, you and your husband said, "What can we do to support Comet, can we buy pizzas? So you bought, I don't know how many pizzas, but it was a lot of pizzas, and sent them to a literacy program, an after school literacy program in D.C.,' Muscatine revealed, again thanking Hillary for supporting the businesses 'quietly.'

The former US Secretary of State then re-walked the audience through 'Pizzagate,' as it served as an example of how the Russians utilized the email hacks.

She reminded them how her Campaign Chairman John Podesta's emails had been 'stolen' by the Russians – saying she hated the word 'hacked' – and then handed them over to Wikileaks, in which they were selectively released.