MORRISVILLE, PA — A Morrisville man has been arrested after police say he made violent threats against Temple University while buying ammunition at a Walmart.
The man had stocked up on ammunition, knives, propane canisters and other items at other stores and told a fellow customer he would “see him in the news,” according to police.
Patrick J. Buhler, 29, has addresses in both Morrisville and Mount Bethel, in Northampton County. He was arraigned Saturday on charges of terroristic threats and harassment. The charges are misdemeanors.
According to a police affidavit, at about 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31, Buhler spoke to a customer at the Walmart along Levittown Parkway in Tullytown about security at Temple University, asking questions about campus police and the department’s response time.
He also told the customer that he “would see him in the news in the coming days,” according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s office.
The conversation was witnessed by an employee. It happened in the sporting goods department, where Buhler was buying five boxes of .223 ammunition. According to the complaint, he said he was buying the ammunition because he knows police wear body armor.
While investigating, Tullytown Borough Police found that Buhler had visited several other Walmart stores, where he bought additional ammunition, knives, small-cylinder propane bottles and a two-way radio and binoculars.
At his Moreau Street home on Thursday, Buhler allegedly told police that his conversation with the other customer was “a mistake,” saying he didn’t know what he was thinking when he said “violent things.”