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Edgar Maddison
Welch of Salisbury is suspected of firing an AR-15 assault rifle
inside the crowded Comet Ping Pong restaurant on Dec. 4. No one
was injured.
Welch will appear in U.S. District Court for a preliminary
hearing on charges of interstate transportation of a firearm
with intent to commit an offense, assault with a dangerous
weapon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a
crime of violence. He is being held without bond.
A court filing from the Federal Bureau of Investigation said
Welch planned for days to raid the restaurant to free children
from a nonexistent pedophilia ring. Bogus news stories had said
2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ran such
an operation out of the restaurant.
The stories were an example of a proliferation of false reports
during the U.S. election campaign, often disseminated through
websites purporting to be news outlets and quoting bogus
sources.
The federal weapons charge carries a maximum prison sentence of
10 years. It supersedes lower-court charges, which prosecutors
dropped.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Von
Ahn)
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