A Bucks County man was arrested after allegedly admitting to implying “violent things” against Temple University as he shopped for rifle bullets.
A Bucks County man was arrested after he made terroristic threats against Philadelphia's Temple University as he shopped for rifle bullets, police said.
Patrick Buhler, 29, was charged with one count each of making terroristic threats and harassment - both misdemeanors - after admitting that he implied "violent things" when he talked about Temple University while shopping for ammunition at a Levittown Walmart, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
An employee at the store told police that as Buhler was buying five boxes of .223 caliber rifle bullets on Wednesday, July 31, he kept making "concerning statements" about Temple University to another customer, the criminal complaint said. Buhler allegedly asked about who patrolled the campus and what their response time was and said he was buying the bullets "because he knows that Cops wear bullet proof vests..."
The employee then told officers that Buhler said, "...you will see something on the news in the next couple of days." Another customer at the store told police that he also saw Buhler making the comments and overheard him saying that, "...you will see him in the news in the next two weeks."
Police tracked down Buhler and arrested him Thursday at his Morrisville home. Prior to the arrest, they had learned that in April he was arrested in Flemington, New Jersey, where officers found him to be "...in the illegal possession of assault type weapons, rifles, handguns, large capacity magazines and multiple rounds of prohibited ammunition," according to the affidavit.
Buhler told officers that what he said at the Walmart was "one big f--- up on my part" and that he didn't know what he was thinking when he made the comments, the police document said.
Buhler could not post bail and is being held at Bucks County Correctional Facility. It was not immediately clear whether or not he had retained an attorney.
