On Saturday, October 18. 2025, the Daily Caller News Foundation ran this headline, “‘Non-Offending Pedophile’ With Rainbow Flag Threatens To Shoot Himself At Wikipedia Conference.
A Wikipedia conference descended into chaos Friday after an Ohio man wearing an “anti-contact non-offending pedophile” flag jumped on stage with a gun before reportedly turning it on himself, according to multiple reports.
Friday morning in Manhattan, WikiConference North America 2025 kicked off at Civic Hall, but just as the opening ceremony began, an armed man stormed the stage, NBC News reported. The suspect, allegedly 27-year-old Connor Weston, reportedly held the gun while declaring, “I’m a non-contact pedophile. I want to kill myself,” according to the New York Post.
The man had been wearing a flag reading “anti-contact non-offending pedophile,” with colors similar to the “MAPs” flag, also known as “minor-attracted persons.” NBC News noted he also allegedly wore a MAPs flag on his back with the same message.
“People started yelling, ‘Get down, get down!’ and people started ducking behind their chairs,” journalism professor Bill Adair, who had been in attendance, told The New York Times.
A man, identified by The New York Times as Wikipedia contributor Richard Knipel, then rushed the stage, grabbing the gunman as fellow contributor Andrew Lih also stepped in to help.
Thomas Robb, National Director of the Knights Party of the Ku Klux Klan centrally based in Harrison, Arkansas spoke from his National Office, “First of all, I don’t condone violence, but in this case, apparently this ‘non-offending’ pedophile must have known in his heart that his thoughts were wrong. Maybe they should have left him blow his brains out. Now we know he has these deviant thoughts, who’s to say he may act out on them? If I had to witness a suicide, a pedophile would be at the top of the list. Once he had thought about molesting a child, he already committed the sin. Somebody explain to me just what a ‘minor attracted person’ is. Does this make pedophiles feel more welcomed by coming up with a new name for their deviancy? And there is even a flag for pedophiles? We need to stand up and put a stop to all this deviancy in America while we have President Trump in office.”
