Comet Ping Pong blaze investigated as arson, police launch search for suspect

The front door of Comet Ping Pong pizza shop (AP)

Comet Ping Pong, the popular Washington, D.C. pizza parlor that gained national attention due to the infamous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, was intentionally set alight last week and federal officials were hunting for a suspect caught looking directly into a surveillance camera.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tweeted its investigators were searching for a male between the ages of 25 and 30 years old with blonde hair, a mustache and a beard.

ARSON SCHEME WAS SUSPECT'S EFFORT TO FRAME EX-GIRLFRIEND, POLICE SAY

Employees were able to extinguish the blaze, which broke out Wednesday after 9 p.m., and no one was injured. Investigators discovered matches and lighter fluid on the floor of a back room where the fire started, The Washington Post reported, citing a police report.

The D.C. eatery was thrust into the spotlight after an Internet rumor alleged former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton were among a group of wealthy elites involved in an international sex slavery ring that was allegedly centered at the pizza joint. Some theorists believed emails from the account of 2016 Clinton campaign chair John Podesta contained codes known to pedophiles. Drawings inside Comet Ping Pong and photos from social media accounts belonging to the restaurant's owners were also used to support the far-fetched insinuation.

In June 2017, Edgar Maddison Welch was sentenced to four years in prison after he walked into the pizza shop armed with an AR-15 and a revolver to investigate the rumors. Welch fired his gun multiple times and, after finding no children held against their will, he surrendered to police.

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The “Pizzagate” theory had been widely debunked.