Cannibal Corpse guitarist had huge weapons cache stored at his Florida home

(Image credit: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage - Getty)

Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O’Brien was found to have had a huge weapons cache at his rented Florida home when it went up in flames last week.

In the incident, it’s alleged that O’Brien forced his way into an occupied family home, ran towards police brandishing a knife when confronted, while at the same time, his nearby home was on fire. Police had to Taser the guitarist before taking him into custody.

O’Brien was subsequently charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon and burglary of an occupied dwelling and was this week released on bail.

The Tampa Bay Times report that in the hours leading up to the incident, O’Brien had called relatives warning about “the rapture” and that “aliens have landed.”

And following the devastating blaze, fire marshals found close to 50 shotguns, 10 semi-automatic rifles, including AK-47 variants and Uzi-style rifles, 20 handguns and two flamethrowers at the property.

Police also seized thousands of rounds of ammunition and “several other weapons and weapons’ parts and three skulls.”

O’Brien lost all his possessions in the house fire, with Deana Mazurkiewicz – the wife of Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul, launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for her friend.

They're looking to raise $60,000 for the guitarist and have so far hit $20,000.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.