It’s only natural that after shooting up a pizza parlor because you believed it could be operating a child sex ring on behalf of Hillary Clinton and you just wanted the facts, you might come to regret some stuff. According to a New York Times article published on Wednesday, “Pizzagate” shooter Edgar Welch, apparently not totally allergic to self-reflection, wishes he had done a few things differently this week.
On Sunday, Welch, armed with an assault rifle, walked into D.C. pizza restaurant Comet Ping Pong and fired a few shots. Luckily, Welch did not injure anyone and was swiftly arrested.
Welch claims he was acting on an internet conspiracy theory and fake news campaign commonly known as “pizzagate” (Welch says he only just installed internet service and heard it by word of mouth). This false, propagandistic story linking Clinton to pizza sex slavery circulated during the presidential campaign and resulted in the harassment of Comet Ping Pong staff as well as the staff of neighboring pizzerias.
In his first interview since his arrest, Welch, who goes by his middle-name “Madison”, spoke to the Times via videoconference from jail.
Welch’s story begins with him waking up Sunday morning and informing his family he has “some things to do,” and ends with him saying he probably acted too hastily. “I regret how I handled the situation,” Welch told the Times.
This is well put, although I wish Welch had gone into specifics. I’m pretty sure, at least, that Welch could get more specific if he so desired. But Welch seemed reluctant to say too much to the Times, explaining that he is not political and does not believe in conspiracy theories. Sometimes he listens to the radio show of one Alex Jones, whom he refers to as “a bit eccentric.”