Police say that Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, entered Washington’s Comet Ping Pong restaurant on Dec. 4. | AP Photo Accused 'Pizzagate' shooter faces federal charges

The North Carolina man accused of firing a gun in the Washington restaurant at the center of the false conspiracy theory known as “Pizzagate” now faces federal charges.

Police say that Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, entered Washington’s Comet Ping Pong restaurant on Dec. 4 to look into false claims that it was host to a child sex slave ring connected to Hillary Clinton. Welch fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant, though no one was injured, before he was arrested.


Welch has been charged with interstate transportation of a firearm with intent to commit an offense or with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that an offense would be committed, according to William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. That charge carries possible financial penalties and a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Local charges against him have been dismissed. Miller said his office is still awaiting confirmation on when Welch will appear in court, though a hearing could be as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

The incident has drawn attention to the proliferation of online conspiracy theories now often referred to as “fake news” and their spread via social media platforms, particularly Facebook.

Welch told The New York Times in a recent interview that he had heard about the “Pizzagate” theory from others and then read articles about it on the internet. He told the newspaper that he felt his “heart breaking over the thought of innocent people suffering” as he traveled to Washington with plans to take a “closer look” at the restaurant.

In his interview with the Times, Welch acknowledged that “the intel” on the Pizzagate rumor “wasn’t 100 percent,” but would not say the claims were all false.