A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he entered a Washington D.C. pizzeria with an assault rifle hoping to investigate an online fake news story involving Hillary Clinton.

Police respond to reports of man with gun at Comet Ping Pong restaurant in D.C. https://t.co/ccH50zq6KH pic.twitter.com/b6mLPkxxRg

— WTOP (@WTOP) December 4, 2016

Police say Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina walked into Comet Ping Pong–located in Chevy Chase–and pointed an AR-15 assault-style rifle in the direction of a restaurant employee, who fled and called police.

Welch reportedly fired the rifle inside of the restaurant, but no one was injured.

According to the Washington Post, police also seized a Colt .38 caliber handgun and a shotgun from Welch. One of those weapons was found inside the restaurant, while the other was located in his car.

Comet Ping Pong was the unlucky target of the #Pizzagate conspiracy theory that went viral last month. A string of fake news stories claimed that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta were running a pedophilic sex ring from the pizzeria’s back rooms.

None of the rumors were true, but that didn’t stop the restaurant’s owner, James Alefantis, and his employees from being attacked on social media and receiving death threats.

Reddit banned the Pizzagate subreddit from its site, citing its strict policies against posting personal information of others; however, this was met with a wave of criticism from users on r/The_Donald, a popular pro-Trump subreddit, who felt Reddit’s decision was an act of censorship.

Every “conspiracy” theory has proven right&media wrong. Comet ping pong and #Pizzagate are real. I trust Twitter “reporters” more than CNN

— Jill SteinCrazy (@terrymendozer) December 5, 2016

The rise of fake news stories has become a growing concern as some experts argue it altered the fate of the presidential election. Facebook even went as far as to announce plans to crack down on fake news, but eradicating these types of stories from social media may be next to impossible.

In a statement on Sunday, Alefantis vowed that Comet Ping Pong would “continue to operate safely and securely,” and he condemned those who are working to spread the malicious accusations.

“What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories comes with consequences,” he said. “I hope that those involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today, and stop promoting these falsehoods right away.”

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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On Sunday New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered that sex offenders stay away from Pokémon Go. The immensely popular game that has taken the world by storm for the past month leads its players on a real life search for digital Pokémon, using your phone’s map function.

Last week NY State Senators Jeffrey Klein and Diane Savino discovered that using the app actually might take you to the homes of convicted sex offenders. Now they are trying to pass legislation that will keep players a minimum of 100 feet away from such locations. It is also possible to pay real life money to get a rare Pokémon, in order to lure other players to your location–a tactic that some businesses are using to get customers to come to their stores.

Governor Cuomo previously worked to prohibit or limit Internet access for convicted sex offenders and pedophiles. This new directive will ban all registered sex offenders from downloading and playing interactive online games such as Pokémon Go. This will immediately affect around 3,000 individuals on parole.

We directed @NYSDOCCS to restrict sex offenders on parole from playing Pokémon GO and similar games: https://t.co/WpL19oEswq

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 1, 2016

Cuomo also sent a letter to Niantic, Inc., the American software company behind Pokémon Go, asking for cooperation on the issue by technologically barring sex offenders from even using the app. He said in a statement:

Protecting New York’s children is priority number one and, as technology evolves, we must ensure these advances don’t become new avenues for dangerous predators to prey on new victims. These actions will provide safeguards for the players of these augmented reality games and help take one more tool away from those seeking to do harm to our children.

In the same statement, Jeffrey Klein said that pedophiles constantly seek new ways to approach and lure victims and that this is an important first step to limit the technological ways they can do it.

Diane Savino pointed out that Pokémon Go is an entertaining game for children, but the real world can be dangerous and it is important to remember the risks. However, there is no evidence that anyone has been sexually abused because of the Pokémon Go app.

It is great that an online game manages to get kids out and moving in their search for Pokémon, but there are several risks involved when walking around with your eyes on a screen–such as robbery, various physical injuries, and in one case, even finding a dead body. Hopefully the new directives regarding sex offenders will protect kids from one of those potential dangers.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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