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Police: Conspiracy theory led man to shoot inside pizza shop

WASHINGTON — A man who said he was investigating a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton running a child sex ring out of a pizza place fired an assault rifle inside the restaurant Sunday, injuring no one, police and news reports said.

Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Aquita Brown said police received a call Sunday afternoon about a male with a weapon on Connecticut Avenue, in an affluent neighborhood of the nation’s capital.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 28 of Salisbury, N.C., walked into the front door of Comet Ping Pong and pointed a firearm in the direction of a restaurant employee, the Washington Post reported. The employee was able to flee and notify police. Welch then fired the gun into the floor.

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Police responded and arrested Welch without incident.

The Comet Ping Pong gained notoriety during the presidential campaign after fake news stories stated that Clinton and her campaign chief ran a child sex ring out of the restaurant.

Welch told police he’d come to the restaurant to ‘‘self-investigate’’ the fictitious online conspiracy theory, the police statement said.

Associated Press