Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien is a free man, for now. O'Brien has been released from jail. He got out this past Friday, at 9:01 pm, after posting the $50,000 surety bond, according to The PRP.
O'Brien is currently facing charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.
O'Brien broke into a neighbor's home, threw a woman in the residence to the ground, and ran to their backyard where he hid behind a fence. When cops surrounded him, he tried to charge at them with a knife, but was tasered and arrested. As this was happening, his own home was engulfed in flames, and live ammunition was going off. There were "military-grade flame throwers" also causing the fire to get even bigger, resulting in his entire home burning down. Firefighters worked for hours to put out the blaze. There are no charges against O'Brien as a result of the blaze.
Deana Mazurkiewicz, the wife of O'Brien's Cannibal Corpse bandmate, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, has launched a crowdfunding campaign on MightyCause.com to try to help get Pat back on his feet. Deana wrote in a statement that Pat had no insurance and that people should "not jump to conclusions until the full details of what occurred come out." As of this writing, nearly $18,000 has been raised.
The band have yet to comment on the matter, nor if O'Brien will be joining them on their touring commitments in 2019, although that seems unlikely. One person that has commented on the matter was Slayer/Exodus guitarist Gary Holt:
“He needs help, is gonna need help for a while, not talking about legal help, although he will need that too. But he’s gonna have a long road to travel. This is for his rehabilitation. People think Cannibal Corpse are millionaires and shit, they play death metal. One can make a living at it but they ain’t rich and he lost EVERYTHING. Help a metal brother out”
O'Brien has a long road ahead of him indeed.
