Investigators Seek Source of School Worker’s Arsenal

Local and federal investigators continued their efforts on Thursday to trace how a Capistrano school district worker managed to accumulate an arsenal of more than 80 assault rifles and handguns.

Deputies raided Jerry Peacock’s duplex Wednesday morning following a tip that he had stolen maintenance equipment from the Capistrano Unified School District, where he worked for six years.

At the San Clemente residence, deputies said they found the stolen equipment and a cache of firearms locked in two safes.

The haul included eight machine guns, dozens of military-style assault rifles, several World War II vintage carbines, four partially assembled grenades and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, officials said.

None of the weapons was loaded, officials said.

Peacock, a school district groundskeeper, remained in Orange County Jail on Thursday on $1-million bail.

He has not been charged. Authorities said the 43-year-old has no attorney and has kept silent about why he had so many weapons.

Peacock declined to be interviewed.

Local investigators and officials from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are trying to determine whether any of the weapons were stolen or are illegal to possess.