Pennsylvanian charged in college threat

TULLYTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man has been charged with making threats against Temple University and its Police Department as he was buying ammunition in a Walmart store, authorities said.

The Bucks County district attorney’s office said 29-yearold Patrick Buhler, who has addresses in Morrisville and Mount Bethel, was arraigned Saturday on misdemeanor terroristic threats and harassment counts.

Authorities allege in a criminal complaint that he spoke to a customer in the sporting goods department of the Walmart in Tullytown on Wednesday night about security at Temple University as he was purchasing five boxes of ammunition. He asked questions about campus police and the department’s response time, “eventually making the statement: ‘You will see something on the news in the next couple of days.’”

The complaint said Buhler said he was buying .223-caliber rifle ammunition because “he knows that cops wear bulletproof vests.”

Authorities said in the criminal complaint that Buhler said the conversation with the Walmart customer was a mistake, noted he insinuated “violent things” and said he didn’t know what he was thinking when he said them.

The criminal complaint also notes that Buhler was arrested in April in Flemington, N.J., on weapons offenses in connection with the possession of assault-type weapons, rifles, handguns, large-capacity magazines and prohibited ammunition. The status of that case was unclear.