The threat of a home foreclosure may have been the reason a southwest suburban Lockport man tried to blow up a bank with his car Friday night.
David A. Whitesell, 48, was arrested for felony arson and felony criminal damage to property with an incendiary device when police say he parked his car, which was rigged with explosives, outside the front entrance of the PNC Bank near 9th and Read streets in Lockport at about 8:30 p.m. Friday.
The explosion blew off the roof of the vehicle and shattered several windows including windows on the bank, according to Lockport Police.
The bank was closed at the time and there weren't any employees inside when the bomb went off. No injuries have been reported.
He was arrested at a nearby Speedway convenience store, said store employee Mary Craig.
"His house was foreclosed and his car repossessed," she said.
The Lockport Police Department, Cook County Bomb Squad and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms continue to investigate the blast.
