Edgar Maddison Welch dies in fatal Kannapolis police shooting
Fatal Kannapolis police shooting death of Edgar Maddison Welch – Obituary
Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, from Salisbury, was fatally shot by police officers during a traffic stop on January 4 in Kannapolis, North Carolina.
The incident began when an officer identified a GMC Yukon linked to someone with an active arrest warrant. Upon stopping the vehicle, the officer recognized Welch, who also had an outstanding warrant for felony probation violation, as a passenger.
When officers attempted to detain Welch, he allegedly pulled a handgun from his jacket and aimed it at them. Despite being ordered to drop the weapon, Welch reportedly refused, prompting two officers, Brooks Jones and Caleb Tate, to open fire. He was transported to Atrium Health-Cabarrus and later transferred to a Charlotte hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on January 6. No officers or the vehicle’s driver were injured in the incident.
Welch previously gained national attention in 2016 for the “Pizzagate” incident, where he entered a Washington, D.C. pizzeria with firearms and discharged a weapon while investigating a false conspiracy theory. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and was released in 2020.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting to ensure proper protocols were followed.
