Fake news, real bullets: Suspect with rifle arrested at DC restaurant named in 'Pizzagate' story

Police arrested a gunman armed with an assault weapon at a Washington, D.C. restaurant named in a fake pro-Trump news story that spread online.

The Washington Post said no shots were fired and no one was injured at Comet Ping Pong, a Northwest Washington pizza restaurant with ping pong tables that are popular with families.

A phony online news story that circulated days before the Nov. 8 election said that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and a top campaign aide were running a child sex ring out of the back room at Comet Ping Pong.

The story was one of many canards floated by pro-Trump propaganda mills. Not a word of it was true, but the restaurant's employees and their families have been receiving death threats and other forms of harassment since the phony story circulated, which is known in right-wing conspiracy circles as "#Pizzagate."

Comet Ping Pong's owners contacted the FBI, the local police, Facebook and other agencies in an attempt to get the defamatory post taken down.

Gareth Wade, 47, and Doug Clarke, 50 told the Post that they were inside the restaurant when a commotion erupted.

"(T)he server said someone just walked in with a shotgun," said Wade.

They quickly ducked out of the restaurant and attempted to go to the bookstore across the street, but were prevented from entering by police, who were turned out in force.

D.C. police spokeswoman Aquita Brown said that the department received a call about a man with a weapon at the restaurant at around 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Social media users picked up the story as it spread:

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