WASHINGTON – A D.C. Superior Court judge agreed Thursday to delay the preliminary hearing of a North Carolina man suspected of walking into a popular pizza shop with an assault rifle and handgun and firing at least two shots.
The public defenders for Edgar Welch, 28, told Magistrate Judge Sherry Trafford they needed more time to investigate Sunday’s incident. The attorneys also said they wanted time to allow Welch’s family to attend the hearing.
Prosectors objected to the delay, but the judge granted the request.
Welch, wearing an orange D.C. jail jumpsuit and leg and wrist shackles, sat next to his attorneys during the hearing. He will remain in jail at least through Tuesday.
Police say Welch walked into Comet Ping Pong with the assault rifle and fired it before pointing it at an employee. The Washington pizzeria had become the subject of a widely shared fake news story linking Hillary Clinton to a child sex ring.
He said that he was searching for child sex slaves whom he believed were hidden there, and that he traveled to the nation’s capital to help rescue them, according to court documents.
Welch surrendered peacefully after 45 minutes of searching inside Comet Ping Pong and finding no evidence of sex trafficking. No one was injured during the incident.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Keith L. Alexander
