“Pizzagate” gunman killed by Kannapolis police after he pulls gun on officer
Published 11:15 am Thursday, January 9, 2025
KANNAPOLIS — Police released details Thursday morning on a Jan. 4 incident in which a police officer shot a suspect who reportedly pulled a gun on the officer. The suspect died two days later in the hospital.
According to police, a Kannapolis officer was patrolling North Cannon Boulevard about 10 p.m. when he saw a gray 2001 GMC Yukon being driven by a person the officer knew had an outstanding arrest warrant. The officer stopped the car, and while talking with the driver, recognized that the passenger was also someone with an outstanding warrant.
Two additional Kannapolis police officers arrived to help with the stop, and the original officer went around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door to arrest Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury.
When the officer opened the door, Welch pulled a handgun from his jacket and pointed it in the direction of the officer. That officer and a second officer who was standing at the rear passenger side of the Yukon gave commands for Welch to drop the gun. When he refused, both officers fired their duty weapon at Welch, striking him.
Medical assistance was immediately summoned for Welch, and he was transported to Atrium Health Cabarrus for care and treatment. He was later taken to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte where he died on Jan. 6.
The three officers on the traffic stop, along with the driver and a back seat passenger of the Yukon were all uninjured in this incident.
The officers who fired their duty weapon during this incident are Officer Brooks Jones and Officer Caleb Tate. A third officer who was on scene at the time of the shooting did not fire his duty weapon.
The investigation of this incident remains ongoing by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the officers who fired their duty weapon remain on administrative leave as is standard protocol. The outstanding warrant for arrest on Welch was for a felony probation violation. No additional details regarding this incident will be provided until the conclusion of the investigation and a decision has been made by Cabarrus County District Attorney Ashlie Shanley.
In accordance with Kannapolis Police Department policy and procedure, an outside law enforcement agency is requested by the department to investigate any incident involving a member of the department whose actions result in the death or serious injury to a member of the public. That practice is designed to prevent bias during the investigation and the findings of the investigation are presented to the District Attorney without any influence by a member of the department. To protect the integrity of these investigations, the amount of information provided to the public is limited until the investigating agency feels comfortable with releasing more details of an incident. After consultation with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Kannapolis police reached that point and have released more details.
This was not the first time Welch had interactions with police. He pleaded guilty in March of 2017 to federal charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and transporting a firearm over state lines in the incident that has come to be known as “Pizzagate.”
In 2016, Welch fired an AR-15 rifle inside a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., saying he was there to save children he believed were being held as part of a child abuse sex ring. His theory came from a baseless Internet rumor that the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria was the home of a Satanic child sex abuse ring involving top Democrats such as Hillary Clinton. After his arrest, Welch stated “the intel was not 100 percent.”
According to the court description of the incident, Welch went into the Comet Ping Pong brandishing a three-foot-long rifle with a loaded revolver on his hip. Numerous children were in the facility at the time, and both customers and employees ran from the pizzeria as Welch looked around, at one point firing into a closet and damaging a computer. No one was injured and he eventually surrendered to police.