CHARLOTTE, N.C. — 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.

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 news 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 news 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 news release identified the two officers who fired as Caleb Tate and Brooks Jones.

The third officer, not named, did not fire his weapon, the press release said.

None of the three officers, the vehicle’s driver, or a third passenger in a back seat were injured.

Welch was transported to a hospital in Cabarrus County for treatment. He was later transferred to one in Charlotte, but died from his injuries two days later.

The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is investigating and Tate and Jones were put on administrative leave.

The conspiracy theory falsely claimed the sex ring was in a back room of the restaurant, according to news reports, and believers pointed to leaked emails between Clinton and John Podesta, her 2016 presidential campaign chief, as proof. The emails were about Clinton’s campaign potentially holding a fundraiser at the restaurant, but conspiracy theorists on websites like 4Chan and Reddit said it was all a disguise. And that the emails were coded in a way to secretly talk about the sex ring.

Welch decided to arm himself and investigate the restaurant. Patrons, including children, and employees fled the restaurant in fear upon seeing him and his weapons.

He fired his weapon at a door, but no one was injured as Welch searched the premises for the rumored back room that held the alleged child sex ring — neither of which existed — for 20 minutes. He left the restaurant unarmed and was arrested.

Kannapolis Director of Communications Annette Privette Keller confirmed Welch was the man involved in the Pizzagate conspiracy eight years ago.

In addition to the AR-15 and revolver, Welch also had a shotgun and shotgun shells in his vehicle in 2016. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition, and a District of Columbia charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, and was sentenced to four years in prison in June 2017.

The judge overseeing his case at the time was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was then a district judge in Washington, D.C.

Brown Jackson also ordered Welch to three years of supervised release, to receive a mental health assessment, and to stay away from the restaurant. He was also ordered to pay $5,744 in restitution for property damage he caused at the restaurant.

Welch later apologized for his actions.

“I just wanted to do some good and went about it the wrong way,” Welch said. “I regret how I handled the situation.”

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