Man declares himself a ‘non-contact pedophile,’ puts gun to his head during NYC Wikipedia conference

Police identified the man as 27-year-old Connor Weston, who held a revolver to his head and said, “I’m a non-contact pedophile. I want to kill myself.” Conference staff quickly tackled him and took his weapon before law enforcement arrived and took him into custody.

One staff member who helped stop Weston told the New York Post that they acted out of “adrenaline,” explaining, “Since you’re on the trust and safety team you’re expected to do this… we’re not used to loaded weapons in the same room… we’re used to more prank behavior.”

“I think we handled it pretty well considering this was not an expected thing,” the worker added. “We’re expected to do that for every event but in a place like NYC you’re going to have more people and more chance of it.”

Weston was wearing a banner reading, “ANTI-CONTACT NON-OFFENDING PEDOPHILE.” He was reportedly a registered attendee of the WikiConference North America event, which was being held in New York City as a celebration of the city’s 400th anniversary. No one was injured during the incident.

“It was surprising. One of the keynote speakers was presenting and then all of a sudden there was someone on the stage saying something about suicide,” another attendee told The Post. “I didn’t realize he had a gun but apparently he did. But the response was really fast: ‘get down, get out.’

In a post on X last summer, Weston described himself as “fundamentally against adult/minor relations because I know that they are harmful.”

“I don’t have any ‘urges’ that I have to control, just like how most straight men don’t have the urge to rape every woman they meet,” he wrote. “Pedophilia is not a choice. I can choose to not harm minors, but I cannot choose to stop being attracted to them.”

A spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation confirmed that the event will continue with heightened security measures.

“Participants at WikiConference North America are safe, and are continuing to gather together in community,” the spokesperson said. “We appreciate the conference organizers and attendees who stepped in to help during the opening ceremony.