The man accused of commandeering a D.C. pizza restaurant with an assault-style rifle anticipated that his efforts could end in violence as he investigated false rumors of a child sex ring, according to court documents.

New details, including evidence that Edgar Maddison Welch tried to recruit two conspirators, add a chilling twist to the case. Friends and family members had earlier said they thought the 28-year-old North Carolina man was on a mission to save children, not to hurt anybody.

A fake online story prompted a man to fire a rifle inside a popular Washington, D.C., pizza place Dec. 4 as he attempted to "self-investigate" a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring from there, police said. Associated Press/Jose Luis Magana

Prosecutors wrote in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday that “it appears Welch had been contemplating a violent confrontation at the restaurant.” They outlined various text messages he sent in the days before the Dec. 4 incident at Comet Ping Pong, the subject of viral fake news stories about child trafficking.

“Raiding a pedo ring, possible (sic) sacrificing the lives of a few for the lives of many,” federal prosecutors say Welch texted a friend two days before he drove to Washington in a Toyota Prius. The text continued: “Standing up against a corrupt system that kidnaps, tortures and rapes babies and children in our own backyard.”

In the end, Welch did not shoot anyone and surrendered after he found no evidence of hidden rooms or sex trafficking, police said. The documents state that adults and children were in the restaurant that Sunday and fled when the gunman walked inside with a revolver and the rifle – loaded with 23 bullets – strapped across his chest.

Police said that Welch fired his AR-15 assault-style weapon two or three times inside the restaurant and that he pointed a rifle in the direction of an employee.

The information detailing Welch’s apparent planning is contained in court documents filed Monday as Welch’s criminal case was moved from D.C. Superior Court to U.S. District Court, in the federal system.

Federal prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to have the documents sealed for a brief time, arguing that not doing so could give people Welch texted with an opportunity to destroy electronic evidence or dodge investigators.

Welch is charged with carrying a gun across state lines with intent to commit a crime.

Police have said Welch was consumed with the conspiracy theory, known as “Pizzagate,” that linked Hillary Clinton to a child sex-trafficking ring that was supposedly being run in the basement of Comet.

The criminal complaint says that Welch grew increasingly angry about the reports he was reading online about the supposed sex ring. On Dec. 1, the complaint says, Welch texted his girlfriend and said that he was researching “Pizzagate” and that what he read made him “sick.”

That night, the complaint says, Welch texted another friend about his plans. That friend responded, “Sounds like we r freeing some oppressed pizza from the hands of an evil pizza joint.” Later, authorities wrote, that friend texted Welch, “I’m in.”

The next day, Dec. 2, prosectors said, Welch asked his friend if he knew anyone from the Army who could help. The friend responded, “Depends on the cause.”

Welch texted back and said he was “defending the next generation of kids, our kids, from ever having to experience this kind of evil themselves. … The world is too afraid to act and I’m too stubborn not to.”

Authorities said Welch left his hometown of Salisbury, N.C., the morning of Dec. 4. It’s unclear why he didn’t connect with his other friends.

At some point, he recorded a video that was found on his phone. The complaints says Welch tells his family that he loves them, that he hoped he had “showed it,” and “that he hoped that he would be able to tell them again. And if not, don’t ever forget it.” As he drove, he texted his girlfriend, “Might be gone for a while.”

bout 3 p.m., authorities said, Welch parked his Prius near Comet, and walked in with the assault rifle and went to the back of the restaurant.

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