The guitarist for the popular death metal band Cannibal Corpse was arrested Monday near his home in Tampa after he broke into a home and attacked a deputy, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.
Deputies said Pat O'Brien, 53, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and burglary after he broke into a home next to the Northdale Golf and Tennis Club in Tampa and pushed a woman to the ground.
The Sheriff’s Office said in a release that O'Brien ran toward a responding deputy with a knife. The release said the deputy subdued O'Brien with a stun gun.
Authorities said O'Brien did not know the residents in the home.
Oddly, his nearby home on the 16000 block of Norwood Drive was on fire Monday night, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue said. O’Brien’s home contained numerous weapons, ammunition and flame throwers, Fire Rescue said.
“Crews arrived at the one-story home in the 16000 block of Norwood Dr. to find flames coming through the roof of the structure,” Fire Rescue wrote in a Facebook post.
Officials said the ammunition was exploding due to the flames.
“It took us nearly an hour to bring this one under control. Thankfully, there were no injuries,” Fire Rescue said.
The HCSO bomb squad conducted a precautionary check of O’Brien’s home Tuesday morning.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
O'Brien is being held on $50,000 bail.
Cannibal Corpse, which was formed in 1988 in Buffalo N.Y., has a large following around the world. The band is now Tampa-based and will be part of an upcoming leg of Slayer's farewell tour.
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