(This is in today's local paper (Phila. Inquirer). King of Prussia is a yuppy, fast growing hotspot in the conservative "Main Line" of Philadelphia. )

Link Police say survivalist a suicide

A veritable arsenal was found in the burning home of a King of Prussia man. He had faced eviction.

By William Lamb, Robert Sanchez and Oshrat Carmiel INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF

UPPER MERION - A man who stockpiled guns and explosives and frequented Internet sites devoted to UFOs and government conspiracies apparently set his King of Prussia apartment ablaze and then killed himself yesterday, just hours before he was scheduled to appear at an eviction hearing for nonpayment of rent.

Peter G. Kazlouski, 48, a self-employed computer consultant, apparently fatally shot himself in the chin in his bedroom in the Kingswood apartment complex about 10:15 a.m., police said.

Kazlouski, a frequent contributor to Internet discussion groups on government conspiracies, alien abductions and weaponry, had collected an arsenal of rifles, handguns, and home-made bombs fashioned from paper-towel rolls.

Police said they found his apartment cluttered with survivalist materials, including gasoline, bottled water, and military-style, ready-to-eat meals.

About 20 volunteer firefighters from the King of Prussia, Swedeland and Swedesboro Fire Companies responded to what was reported as a routine "structure fire." Instead, they found Kazlouski's body on a bed, said Phil Ridge, a Montgomery County detective.

"I don't know what all was in there, but we think it might have blown up the entire building, annihilated everything, and might have taken out a few people," said Capt. Joe O'Donnell of the Swedeland Fire Company. "Our guys knocked [the fire] down in three or four minutes. Almost the entire place was on fire."

Alarmed neighbors, many of whom were evacuated from their homes for hours, said Kazlouski routinely fed birds and squirrels outside his apartment but did little to arouse their suspicions, other than keep his blinds drawn day and night.

"He seemed very quiet, very subdued," said Grace Travers, who lives across the street in the 200 block of Murray Drive, just off South Gulph Road north of Henderson Road. "He used to go to work every morning. He'd go grocery shopping; he'd do his laundry. There were no signs whatsoever."

She described Kazlouski as a heavyset, balding man of medium height who drove a red Pontiac Fiero. Other neighbors said that he often received packages but rarely spoke to them.

Kazlouski was to appear yesterday before District Justice William I. Maruszczak to respond to a complaint filed by his landlord, who claimed he was owed $1,137.32 in back rent.

Police officers, Montgomery County detectives, and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spent the afternoon dragging firearms and ammunition out of the apartment and onto the lawn.

The arsenal included at least two .30-06 rifles, about five shotguns, a Tec-9 assault weapon, a 45-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle equipped with a telescopic sight, and several hundred rounds of .50-caliber ammunition.

"There was a lot of stuff in there to indicate he was a survivalist," said Ridge, the county detective.

Tony Kazlouski of Philadelphia, a first cousin, said he had not seen Peter Kazlouski in 30 years..

Kingswood officials, who declined to say how long Kazlouski had lived at the apartment complex, issued a statement saying they did not know of any problems with him.

Kingswood, which initiated the eviction proceedings, had sent a maintenance man to the apartment about an hour before the fire, to see if Kazlouski was still living there. The maintenance man, who gave only his first name, Greg, said he found Kazlouski "cordial."

[end of web article]

The print article version is much more detailed, and there's a side article by another author describing his internet activities. From the print version; "Kalouski had attended Drexel University but had not graduated and had enrolled at a computer-training school in Center City before becoming a consultant."

"Among those [survivalist] items were two five-gallon containers of gasoline, solid fuel used for outdoor cooking, and several cases of bottled water. Police also seized two smoked-damaged computer hard drives and serveral plastic containers of unidentified chemicals."

The side article titled "Quiet and alone in life, he was vocal on Web", describes his activities on the net, "On the internet, Kalousky was a vocal and frequent visitor to a number of fringe discussion groups. He weighed in repeatedly on government conspiracy theories, weaponry, militias and most frequently, alien abductions and spacecraft." [snip] "His postings ranged from long tracts on alien abduction theory to short practical notes written to individuals who believed they had seen something strange in the sky."(Chemtrails anyone?)

[end] Wondering if this guy ever posted on Yourdon's or here.

-- neighbor (somewhere@philly.com), April 27, 2000

Answers

Wonder how they were able to put together a profile of his internet activities so quickly - unless he posted under his real name, of course.

-- Curious (curious@curiouser.com), April 27, 2000.

Found this with a google search.

link.

-- he did use his own name (xxx@xxx.xxx), April 27, 2000.

Survivalist???

He obviously was not very good at it........

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), April 27, 2000.

Great news.

Nice to see these loonies kill themselves rather than others.

-- (delighted@and.happy), April 27, 2000.

Great line, Deano! LOL

Couldn't agree with you more, delighted.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 27, 2000.

RED ALERT! It would be interesting to see which of the EZ board regulars disappears from the scene. INVAR would be my guess. Now wouldnt that be special.

-- Sifting (through@the.rubble), April 27, 2000.

Notwithstanding that the poor bastard found eating his gun to be his only option, I found it interesting that participating in internet fora is now a hallmark of those "crazy survivalists."

Deano, that was priceless!! (You heartless bastard!) ;-)

Jimmy

-- Jimmy Splinters (inthe@dark.com), April 27, 2000.

It wAs DieTeR!!!!

-- ... (...@...com), April 27, 2000.

Just another "troubled loner". They're all nutso, not so? On the other hand, if he had been married he might have taken his whole family with him.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), April 27, 2000.

Articles like this make me uncomfortable. He had no more guns than I, and this is called an "arsenal"? He had a few gallons of bottled water? He had "several hundred" rounds of a caliber that didn't fit any of his guns?

If I died today and someone inventoried this place, I wonder where I'd be placed on the survivalist spectrum? I shudder to think -- over a hundred gallons of bottled water, thousands of rounds (which fit the guns in my "arsenal", fortunately), still a year's worth of food, a small mountain of paper products, on and on.

Nah, it must be the MRE's. That's it!

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), April 27, 2000.

"fatally shot himself in the chin"

Nice. I cut myself shaving my chin, can that ever be fatal?

I agree, watch for missing regular Tinfoilers™.

I can't say i am glad he shot himself, but I agree that it is better than going "postal" and taking innocent people with him (something I feared would happen with the y2k freaks, when there "doom bubble" failed to burst)

-- Super Polly (FU_Q_Y2kfreaks@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

I see your point Flint. But tell me, have you made " home-made bombs fashioned from paper-towel rolls"?

The line between rationality and madness is hard to define at times. One has to consider all the details and the context.

-- Ann A. Lyze (@ .), April 27, 2000.

Dejanews shows 156 posts -- govt abuse --ufo's. deja

Sad

-- (doomerstomper@usa.net), April 27, 2000.

I have to wonder, did he start the fire before or after he shot himself in the head?

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.CON), April 28, 2000.

TECH32,

I'm pretty sure that it was after. I know that it is possible, because Vince Foster drove himself to a park in D.C. after he shot himself.

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), April 28, 2000.

"He had "several hundred" rounds of a caliber that didn't fit any of his guns?"

Am I the only one thinking "Darwin Award Candidate?"

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), April 28, 2000.

how can a survivalist commit suicide, surely a contradiction in terms

-- richard (richard.dale@onion.com), May 04, 2000.

Richard:

There is a new oxy-MORON every day, eh?

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), May 04, 2000.