How you can help #Pizzagate victim Comet Ping Pong

There is nothing fake about the outpouring of support for this Washington, D.C., pizza place.

The spread of fake news reached its peak last Sunday when a conspiracy theory led to a man shooting a rifle inside Comet Ping Pong, a pizza shop. The man, 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, North Carolina, was "self-investigating" bizarre, false claims that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of the restaurant. The made-up story, debunked back in November, had made it onto social media and quickly spread, eventually becoming known as #Pizzagate.

In the aftermath of the incident, in which no one was injured but Salisbury was arrested, the restaurant has received an outpouring of support, online and in real life with streams of customers coming in. A planned event, "Stand With Comet" expects to have thousands stop by the restaurant Friday through Sunday.

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Eating pizza and grabbing a drink at the local business is one way to help, but the restaurant owners have set up an online fundraising page with the goal of raising $28,000.

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The money is slated to cover loss wages for the staff and cooks and expenses for security guards and other security upgrades and physical damage at the shop.

The page launched Thursday afternoon and within hours raised more than $3,000.

Pizzagate has had other real-world implications. It also brought down Donald Trump aide Michael Flynn Jr., the 33-year-old son of Trump's national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. He tweeted about the fake story's legitimacy, saying, "Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it'll remain a story." After that, the younger Flynn was removed from Trump's transition team.