Pizzagate Update: Comet Ping Pong Shooter, Edgar Maddison Welch, Gets Four Years

Around the time of last year’s U.S. presidential election, “Pizzagate” was big news. The internet was awash with stories claiming that Hillary Clinton was at the center of a satanic pedophile ring being run out of a Washington Pizza joint called Comet Ping Pong. As was previously reported in the Inquisitr, “citizens investigators” were convinced that pedophile activity by Washington’s elite was being covered up by the political establishment. The conspiracy theory was branded “fake news” by the mainstream media, but even now, communities on Reddit and Voat, are still trying to prove that Pizzagate is real.

The Pizzagate conspiracy theory took root after WikiLeaks released emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. Those emails contained communications between Podesta and Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis. Pizzagate “investigators” claimed that those messages contained coded language used by pedophiles.

Pizzagate was the conspiracy theory that almost ended in tragedy. As reported by Fox News, on December 4, 2016, North Carolina man, Edgar Maddison Welch, walked into Comet Ping Pong with an assault rifle and fired a single shot. Welch had been enraged by the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and said that he had traveled to Washington to carry out his own investigation.

After his arrest, Welch claimed that he had read that children were being held as sex slaves in Comet Ping Pong and that he had gone to the restaurant armed to rescue them. Supporters of the Pizzagate theory claimed that Welch was engaged in a “false-flag” attack orchestrated by the Clintons to discredit Donald Trump.

Whilst Pizzagate has now, almost entirely, disappeared from the mainstream media, the so-called “investigation” continues on Reddit and Voat.

Edgar Maddison Welch Sent Down For Four Years For Pizzagate Shooting

Thankfully, no one was killed or injured during the Pizzagate shooting at Comet Ping Pong, but U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Jackson said Welch’s actions left behind “psychological wreckage.”

According to WTOP, Welch’s lawyer asked for an 18-month sentence. It was claimed that Welch had admitted responsibility and “expressed sincere remorse” and said that his actions were “foolish and reckless.” Prosecutors had asked for a 4.5-year sentence to be handed down because Welch had “terrorized the community.”

NPR reports that the judge accepted that Welch honestly believed the Pizzagate conspiracy theories, but that she believed that “other people will see what you did and be inspired by it to take up arms.” Prosecutors demanded a strong sentence to “deter other would-be vigilantes fueled by online conspiracies.”

Edgar Maddison Welch, the Pizzagate shooter, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for his actions in Comet Ping Pong.

[Featured Image by Sathi Soma/AP Images]