The Salisbury man who died Monday after he was shot by two Kannapolis police officers over the weekend was the ‘Pizzagate’ gunman arrested in Washington, D.C., in 2016 after he terrified people with a loaded AR-15 inside a restaurant. Via the Charlotte Observer:
Edgar Maddison Welch, the man killed, made national headlines in 2016 when he entered Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., armed with an assault rifle and loaded revolver. He drove from Salisbury to the nation’s capital in search of an alleged child sex ring linked to Hillary Clinton — something he learned about from a fake news story, The Washington Post reported.
Around 10 p.m. Saturday, Welch was sitting in the passenger seat of a gray 2001 GMC Yukon when an officer pulled it over near Cannon Boulevard, a Kannapolis Police Department press release said Thursday. The officer recognized the vehicle, having arrested Welch in the past, and knew he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for a felony probation violation, police said. The press release said the officer spoke with the vehicle’s driver and recognized Welch in the passenger seat as two more officers arrived. The officer that pulled the vehicle over then moved to the front passenger seat where Welch was sitting to arrest him. But when he opened the door, Welch pulled out a handgun from his jacket and pointed it at the officer, police said.
The arresting officer and a second officer at the scene shot Welch after he refused orders to drop his gun. The press release identified the two officers who fired as Caleb Tate and Brooks Jones.
