RCMP have arrested a young man accused of trying to start a fire in a house with his grandparents and other children inside. His grandfather called 9-1-1 after he’d been locked in the basement of a house near Range Road 103 and Township Road 592 in Whitecourt just before 1 a.m. on February 13th.
The elderly man was worried for his wife and his grandkids as he knew they were in the home but weren’t responding to calls or his shouts. It turns out his 19 year old grandson had scattered cardboard and firewood around the house and poured a flammable liquid over them and the floor.
When he couldn’t light a fire, he drove off in his grandmother’s vehicle, but Whitecourt police worked with their counterparts in Peace River to track down the vehicle in that town. Officers got a warrant over the phone and found the man hiding in a bedroom’s headboard frame. He had a handmade .22 pistol and the keys to the vehicle on him.
19 year old Jayden Allen Lochhead is facing several charges and was already wanted on outstanding warrants from Whitecourt, Peace River, and Rocky Mountain House. He has upcoming court dates set in each of those communities.
