Two days, two fires, but one man at the centre.
Joey Arrance, a known member of the Game Tight Soldiers gang, is the tenant of the house at 4337 Foster Road that was apparently torched at about 1 a.m. Wednesday and also the proprietor of the Twisted Soul Tattoo Parlor that was, in curious proximity of time, also destroyed by fire in the wee hours of Tuesday.
"That is too coincidental to overlook," said Prince George RCMP spokeswoman Const. Lesley Smith. "And because it is a known gang member, we will be looking at some things in a different light."
Investigators have techniques that focus their attention on the evidence of each scene, so those sifting for clues at the tattoo parlor will not be confused by what is found at the residence. However, a number of RCMP units are involved in order to put the pieces ultimately together if signs of something stronger than coincidence start to emerge.
Also drawing police attention to these two fires is gang history. Violence is all too common. If the early signs of connection do come to pass, "So much for glamour and protection. Those are the myths about what gangs offer," said Smith. "There is no protection in a gang. What happens in reality is you'll be back-stabbed by your best friend in a gang. And there is no glamour because your health and the well-being of your family and friends is totally in jeopardy at any given time. There is no trust, there is no protection, there is no family, in fact the things that look like that are the things that will turn on you."
