Authorities say the man who traveled armed to a pizzeria in the nation's capital nearly a decade ago because of a fake online conspiracy theory has been shot and killed by police in North Carolina.

Edgar Welch fired an assault rifle inside a Washington, D.C., restaurant in December 2016 while claiming to investigate the "pizzagate" hoax.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, of Salisbury, N.C., who was sentenced to four years in prison for the 2016 shooting at a Washington restaurant, was fatally shot after he pointed a gun at an officer during a traffic stop,