{"id":275412,"date":"2026-08-30T21:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/275412\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T21:00:20","slug":"man-accused-of-intentionally-setting-car-on-fire-in-mckeesport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/275412\/","title":{"rendered":"Man accused of intentionally setting car on fire in McKeesport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man accused of intentionally setting car on fire in McKeesport facing charges<\/p>\n

\"CaitlynMCKEESPORT, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n

A man is facing charges after he allegedly set his own vehicle on fire, saying he “didn’t care about it” in Allegheny County on Friday.<\/p>\n

VIDEO: Top stories on Pittsburgh’s Action News 4<\/p>\n

According to a criminal complaint, officials were called to the 2000 block of Highland Avenue in response to a report of a vehicle fire. The incident was reported around 11 p.m. <\/p>\n

Arriving officers said they then saw a tan Chevy Cavalier fully engulfed in flames. <\/p>\n

A bystander told officers that a man set the car on fire and walked back into a residence across the street. <\/p>\n

Police arrived at the residence as the man exited. The man was placed into custody without incident and taken to a marked patrol car, the complaint said. <\/p>\n

The individual was identified as 36-year-old Tom Lockhart. <\/p>\n

Lockhart told police he had no involvement with the fire and was asleep when the incident occurred. <\/p>\n

The complaint said Lockhart appeared to be intoxicated. He later told police that he was at two bars prior to the fire. <\/p>\n

While on the scene, a witness said she had seen Lockhart outside by his vehicle moments before it burst into flames. The woman said Lockhart told her he “did not care about the vehicle.”<\/p>\n

Police were later granted permission by another resident to review camera footage from that resident’s property. <\/p>\n

Video depicted a man entering the vehicle through the passenger-side door, walking away, and doing so numerous times before flames erupted inside. The man was then seen walking into the woods as the fire continued. <\/p>\n

Officers said the man was seen wearing the same clothes as Lockhart.<\/p>\n

Lockhart faces a charge of arson and a citation for public drunkenness. <\/p>\n

According to additional court documents, Lockhart’s bail was denied, as “the defendant poses a threat to the community.” <\/p>\n

He is now being held at the Allegheny County Jail.<\/p>\n

Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man accused of intentionally setting car on fire in McKeesport facing charges MCKEESPORT, Pa. \u2014 A man is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[894,7201,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-275412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-allegheny-county","tag-mckeesport","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}