A man who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place on Sunday fired an assault rifle inside the Washington restaurant, but injuring no one, police and news reports said.
Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Aquita Brown said police received a call on Sunday afternoon about a male with a weapon on Connecticut Avenue, in an affluent neighborhood of the US capital.
Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina, walked into the front door of Comet Ping Pong and pointed a firearm in the direction of a restaurant employee, the Washington Post reported.
Photo: AP
The employee was able to flee and notify police. Welch then fired the gun into the floor.
Police responded and arrested Welch without incident.
They recovered an “assault rifle,” Brown said.
Welch was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.
Two firearms were recovered inside the restaurant and an additional weapon was recovered from the suspect’s vehicle, police said on Sunday evening.
The Comet Ping Pong gained notoriety during the US presidential campaign after fake news stories in October stated that Clinton and her campaign chief ran a child sex ring out of the restaurant, the New York Times and other news organizations have reported, in a fictitious conspiracy theory that became known as “Pizzagate.”
Welch told police he went to the restaurant to “self-investigate” the conspiracy theory that spread online during Clinton’s run for the White House, the police statement said.
The Comet, its owner, staff and nearby businesses were caught up in an onslaught of conspiracy theories and fake news during the often contentious presidential campaign and were the victims social media attacks and death threats, the Post reported.
James Alefantis, owner of Comet Ping Pong, late on Sunday night released a statement that denied what he called the “malicious and utterly false accusations” and said the company hoped to resume normal operations within a few days.
“What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences,” Alefantis said in the statement.
“I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away,” Alefantis said in the statement.
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