Police on Sunday arrested Edgar Maddison Welch, a 28-year-old North Carolina man who authorities said came armed with an assault rifle to "self-investigate" a popular bar in Washington DC that has become the subject of a conspiracy theory known was "Pizzagate."
Welch was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon after he allegedly entered Comet Ping Pong — a bar and music venue — and pointed his gun at a employee of the restaurant, police said. The employee managed to flee and notify police. Welch then proceeded to shoot his rifle inside the bar, according to police.
After his arrest, Welch told police that he had come to Comet Ping pong to "self-investigate 'Pizzagate,'" the fictitious online conspiracy theory which alleges that Democratic operatives who ordered pizza from the bar were speaking in code about procuring underage prostitutes.
Police said the Welch case is still under investigation.
According to a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Welch, he worked at Locke Fire Department in Salisbury, NC. The department did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.
Welch was also allegedly involved in a serious accident where he struck a teenager with his car in October, according to a WBTV report. Welch was allegedly driving his car when he struck 13-year-old Kenyatta Belton who was walking on the road with his friends. Belton was airlifted to the hospital with head, torso and leg injuries, WBTV reported.
“We was walking down the road, just a normal walk, and this one car had the full road," Sean Lankford, who was walking with Belton told WBTV. "We was pretty much on the white line and he wiped out one of my friends and he had the whole road to turn into even the whole other lane, even in the same lane he could have avoided him."
According to an IMDB page that appeared to belong to Welch, he has film credits including one where he acted as a "raver/victim" in a 2009 horror movie titled The Bleeding. He also worked as a production assistant on two films and wrote a short film called Mute.
Miranda Reed, who said she is in a relationship with Welch, told BuzzFeed News Monday, that she did not want to comment on the the incident. However, she said, "I do wanna say that I have literally never met a more incredibly selfless, kind, caring an jus (sic) all around amazing man in my life. He would never do anything to harm anyone, regardless of accusations made against them..."
This is developing story. Please check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.
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