‘Pizzagate’ attacker dies on Jan. 6 after pointing handgun at police during traffic stop

FILE - Edgar Maddison Welch, of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police in Washington on Dec. 4, 2016. Comet Ping Pong was targeted in the “Pizzagate” conspiracy, which apparently originated on Twitter and led an armed Welch to burst into the restaurant in 2016 to investigate the claims. Welch later pleaded guilty to illegally transporting firearms over state lines and assault with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to four years in prison. (Sathi Soma via AP, File)

FILE – Edgar Maddison Welch, of Salisbury, N.C., surrenders to police in Washington on Dec. 4, 2016 (Sathi Soma via AP, File).

The man who showed up at a popular Washington, D.C., pizzeria with an automatic weapon after falling for a debunked online conspiracy involving allegations of child sex trafficking has been shot to death in a traffic stop in North Carolina.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, died during a confrontation with police in Kannapolis on Jan. 4, according to a statement from the Kannapolis Police Department. It began at around 10 a.m. on North Cannon Boulevard in Kannapolis, a city around 30 miles northeast of Charlotte, when a police officer on patrol recognized a gray 2001 GMC Yukon “as one normally driven by an individual who he had previously arrested, and knew had an outstanding warrant for arrest.”

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