Cannibal Corpse just wrapped its winter tour in Ft. Lauderdale, but guitarist Pat O'Brien probably wishes he was still on the road. WFLA says that on Monday night, Hillsborough County Sheriffs arrested the 53-year-old after a massive fire broke out at his home in the Tampa suburb of Northdale.
Cannibal Corpse is from Buffalo, but now calls Tampa — the death metal capital of the world — home.
County firefighters were able to get the fire under control after about an hour, according to the news station, but they struggled due to the ammunition inside exploding due to the flames.
“Crews remained at the scene throughout the night and kept the road blocked long off after the fire was put out,” WFLA wrote, but around the same time the house caught fire, “the sheriff's office got a call about a burglary in progress at a nearby home.”
An arrest report says that O'Brien went in the house without permission and ignored orders from the family to leave. A supervisor at the sheriff's office says O'Brien pushed a woman down inside the house then went into the backyard where deputies say they found him hiding behind a fence near his home. Deputies also say that O'Brien charged at them with a knife before he was finally arrested.
O'Brien has been charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
Fucking with a knife is pretty serious business, but he probably won’t be sentenced to burn. We’ve reached out to Cannibal Corpse reps for any details and will update this post if they come in.
This article appears in Dec 6-13, 2018.