A Wikipedia conference in New York City descended into chaos Friday when an Ohio man—wearing a sign identifying himself as an “anti-contact non-offending pedophile”—stormed the stage with a gun and threatened to kill himself.
WikiConference North America 2025 had just begun at Manhattan’s Civic Hall when the man raised the weapon toward the ceiling before being tackled by organizers, according to police and a Wikipedia spokesperson. He was later taken into custody, authorities said.
According to law enforcement sources, the man wore a brightly colored sign around his neck reading “anti-contact non-offending pedophile.” The colors matched a flag that has circulated online among individuals identifying as MAPs, or “minor-attracted persons.”
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He also allegedly had the flag representing MAPs draped on his back bearing the same message.
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The bizarre protest has drawn attention in light of past comments by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, who has claimed that pedophiles “run the world” and that child sex trafficking is “entrenched in high society” and shielded by mainstream media. Sanger has urged the public to “wake up to the horrible reality” before meaningful change can occur.
Sanger hasn’t commented on the protest by the self-described non-offending pedophile.
According to John Hopkins University, non-offending pedophiles “are a unique population of individuals who experience sexual interest in children, but despite common misperceptions, have neither had sexual contact with a child nor have accessed illegal child sexual exploitation material.”
NBC report: The incident, and a possible motive, remain under investigation. Wikipedia canceled all events Friday “due to unforeseen circumstances,” adding that the conference is expected to resume Saturday, the online encyclopedia said on its website.
In a statement, Wikipedia said that conference participants are safe and that it thanks those who stepped in to help Friday.
“The rest of today’s program is cancelled, and there will be additional security as well as law enforcement onsite for the remainder of the event,” it said.
Wikipedia would not share if the man was affiliated with the online encyclopedia in any way. The conference started on Thursday and will end on Sunday, per Wikipedia’s website.
