Man buried loaded rifle, pipe bomb in Philly park, authorities say

A Philadelphia man faces a litany of charges after allegedly telling authorities Saturday that he had buried an illegally purchased loaded rifle in a city park and omitting that he had buried a homemade pipe bomb with it.

Compounding the scare, according to court records, police did not discover the explosive until they had returned to the Northwest Detective Division at 5960 N. Broad St. in Ogontz because it had been buried inside a gym bag with the rifle.

All 33 people inside the building - which also includes the 35th Police District - were evacuated as the bomb squad responded, according to court documents. No one was injured, and the bomb did not go off.

Brian Horter, 31, was charged with possessing weapons of mass destruction, causing a catastrophe, and related counts. He was being held on $2 million bail, according to court records.

Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced the arrest at an unrelated news conference Monday. She said the office's Gun Violence Task Force began investigating Horter about two months ago because he was suspected of using a straw purchaser to buy the Century Zastava rifle for him.

On Saturday, court records say, Horter told agents that he had buried the rifle inside a gym bag in the woods in Benjamin Rush Park in Northeast Philadelphia. Kane said task force agents and Philadelphia police officers "went to the park, spent over an hour digging holes looking for [the gun], and eventually found the weapon."

But officers who brought the bag back to Northwest Detectives were surprised to find the weapon as well as "a suspicious device" inside the bag, court records said.

Kane said authorities suspect that Horter "put the pipe bomb along with [the gun] in the event that it was discovered."

The attorney general commended the officers for finding the bag and "making sure that it was not found by a child in a park."

cpalmer@phillynews.com

215-854-2817 @cs_palmer