Armed man arrested near D.C. pizzeria targeted by fake news

Washington, D.C., police arrested a North Carolina man armed with an assault rifle on Sunday afternoon in front of Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria that had been targeted by fake news stories.

Police identified the suspect as Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina. According to the police statement: "During a post-arrest interview this evening, the suspect revealed that he came to the establishment to self-investigate 'Pizza Gate' (a fictitious online conspiracy theory)."


One or more shots were fired, according to interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham, but no one was injured. A total of three weapons were retrieved after the man was left the restaurant and surrendered. Welch, police said, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

For weeks, Comet Ping Pong has been the victim of baseless news stories about Hillary Clinton trafficking children in the local D.C. restaurant's back rooms. The stories appeared on Facebook, in addition to such dubious outlets as The New Nationalist and Alex Jones' Infowars.

Since then, a hashtag, #PizzaGate, has been used to defame the restaurant. The owner and employees of the pizzeria have also been victims of harassment. Scurrilous and defamatory posts continue to appear on Twitter on a daily basis even as D.C. police have said the restaurant is not under investigation.

Welch’s Facebook profile , among photographs of him hiking and visiting with friends and family, includes a picture of himself with what appears to be an assault rifle.The page offers no public commentary on the 2016 presidential race, but it lists him as a fan of the pages for Alex Jones and Infowars, which last week described “Pizzagate” as a “pedophile scandal” and “worldwide network.”

Jones, who has propagated the conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook School shooting was a hoax, has attracted more attention than usual in the mainstream media this year because of his vocal support for Trump. The president-elect reportedly called and thanked him after he won the election last month.

The restaurant, located near Politics & Prose bookstore on a commercial strip in Washington's Northwest section, announced last week that there will be visible police or private security presences at music shows hosted there.

“Comet Ping Pong, like any respectable venue, is dedicated to creating a safe and inviting space for all of our concert-goers,” a statement on the restaurant’s Facebook page reads. “There have been no hostile situations at the venue, and we do not anticipate any altercations as much of the harassment has occurred online, but as a precaution we now have security and police present at every show.”