There are still many questions stemming from yesterday's bizarre story of Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien being arrested late Monday night. O'Brien is being charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon and burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault or battery.
O'Brien broke into a neighbor's home, threw one of the people in the home, a woman, 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. Yesterday afternoon, O'Brien appeared in court wearing an anti-suicide vest, with his ankles chained together, and bail was set at $50,000. He was told by a judge that he would need to pass a drug test if he were to be bonded out of jail. While this was happening, O'Brien's own house was being burned down and firefighters had much trouble putting out the blaze. Today, new details have emerged.
WFTS in Tampa is now reporting that "there were military-style flamethrowers inside the home, making the fire much harder to battle for firefighters." It should be noted that it is legal to possess flamethrowers in Florida. Firefighters got multiple calls from neighbors alerting them of the fire.
Tampa Bay Times indicates that the calls to 911 from neighbors noted there might have been a domestic dispute inside the house. When firefighters entered the home, they had to quickly evacuate after realizing it wasn't safe, as they had to duck for cover because explosions were still going off. It took firefighters over an hour to fight the blaze, and they stayed throughout the night to make sure it didn't spread to neighbors. The next morning, six houses surrounding O'Brien's home were evacuated because of "something that's inside the home." Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire. The melee has resulted in an investigation being opened by The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
O'Brien broke into a house half a mile away from his home, although the report notes that he had likely cut through a neighboring golf course, making his journey much shorter. WFTS got a statement from the residents of the home that O'Brien broke into:
The homeowner wouldn't go on camera but told ABC Action News he figured O'Brien was hallucinating when he spoke to him about the "rapture" and claimed, "someone was after him." The homeowner added O'Brien seemed scared and at one point even hid in his closet. Deputies eventually found O'Brien hiding outside behind a fence.
No bond is currently set, pending the drug test results. Video footage of the fallout of the fire can be seen in this report by ABC Action News:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GgCxMgrqSo][/youtube]
Cannibal Corpse had just announced they would be opening up a round of dates on Slayer's upcoming North American tour.
