Cannibal Corpse guitarist arrested, charged with aggravated assault and burglary after a night of intensely bizarre events

Photo: Alex Morgan

Reports have come out that Cannibal Corpse’s legendary lead-guitarist of 20+ years, Pat O’Brien, has been apprehended and arrested after an absolutely bizarre chain of events that all transpired on Monday night around his home in Hillsborough County, Florida. According to local law enforcement, O’Brien broke into a home at 6:57 PM, and allegedly attacked one of the two people occupying the property by shoving the victim into the ground after being told to leave by the homeowner. It is reported that O’Brien ran into the backyard of the property after the assault, and hid behind a fence. Soon after, deputies arrived on the scene, which then led to O’Brien erratically charging an officer head-on with a knife in this hand, only to be disarmed and tased by one of the deputies and arrested.

The truly unusual twist to all of this though (yes, there’s more), is that while O’Brien was committing the burglary, his own house was erupting into an explosive blaze just half a mile away. According to firefighters and other officials, the fire was extremely tedious to put out, as there was a collection of “military-style” flamethrowers and live ammunition stored in the house firing off. This made it incredibly difficult for any firefighters to approach the property safely, as they had to duck and cover from the live rounds going off over them. While the fire was put out after about an hour, it wasn’t until law enforcement noticed that O’Brien had been arrested for unrelated charges of aggravated assault and burglary at the exact same time as the fire, that the connection between the two cases was made. According to some eyewitnesses, O’Brien may have ran away from his home in paranoia when officials had arrived to combat the fire, and that would explain his erratic behavior detailed by the aforementioned homeowners.

On Tuesday, Pat O’Brien appeared in court shackled, fitted with an anti-suicide vest, where he was charged with both aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, along with burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault or battery. His bail is set at a $50,000 bond, but hasn’t been posted yet, as the judge require that O’Brien undergo a drug test before further notice. At the moment, it is unclear whether O’Brien will also be charged in relation to the house-fire. Earlier this week, it had been announced that Cannibal Corpse are slated to open for Slayer on the upcoming North American leg of their farewell tour, although now it is unclear how the alleged crimes will affect the band’s status on the lineup.

This article will be updated as more information comes out. For more, watch this local news report from WFLA: