(Litchfield police photo) Ian Morris, age 25, of Jaffrey. Faces charges in connection with the February home invasion in Litchfield.

HUDSON — As he waits in jail for a June 21 dispositional conference on charges — including a count of attempted murder — accusing him of breaking into a Litchfield home and attacking two residents with a hatchet, 25-year-old Ian J. Morris is facing two new charges for allegedly torching a couple of dumpsters and a shopping cart outside the Hudson Market Basket.

Morris, of 3 Skyline Drive in Jaffrey, was charged in April with one count each of arson — occupied or historic structure; and criminal mischief, both Class B felonies. Officers arrested Morris at Valley Street jail, transported him to police headquarters for booking on the two charges, then returned him to jail after he declined the services of a bail commissioner, according to police.

An April dispositional conference in the Litchfield case was canceled, according to Morris’s case summary, and rescheduled for June 21, the same day he is due in court on the new charges.

The incident that led to Morris’s arrest for arson and criminal mischief occurred in early February, when Hudson firefighters were called to the Market Basket Plaza, 212 Lowell Road, for a report of a dumpster fire with exposure to the building.

Officers on patrol arrived just ahead of firefighters, and reported seeing flames “coming from three different locations” near loading docks at the rear of the Market Basket store.

Police said flames “had begun to travel up the building onto an exposed gas line,” but firefighters were able to halt the spread of the fire. Police said they were also advised that two Market Basket employees were inside the store at the time of the blaze. Neither was injured.

Hudson fire officials told police that the two dumpsters and the shopping cart “appeared to have been deliberately set ablaze,” according to police.

By reviewing images from security video systems in the area and utilizing various technological methods, police were able to trace “pings” on a cell phone that allegedly put the phone’s owner — Ian Morris — at the scene at the time that the fire broke out.

Meanwhile, state police investigating Morris’s alleged involvement in the Litchfield break-in and assaults contacted Hudson officials to advise that through their investigation they learned that Morris allegedly left “concerning notes” at the New Hampshire State Liquor & Wine Outlet in Nashua, where he had once worked; Morris had also worked at the Hudson outlet, police said.

As for the Litchfield incident, police said Morris told them at the scene that he was from Jaffrey “and he did not know the family” at the Evergreen Circle home.

Police reports state that it was just before midnight that Morris allegedly made his way into the home, and once inside he allegedly found his way to the bedroom where the husband and wife were sleeping.

They awoke to see a person standing in the doorway clutching a hatchet, according to police. When the suspect, later identified as Morris, allegedly asked the man, “how do you want to die?” the couple thought it was “some sort of prank,” police said.

But after the couple followed Morris downstairs, at his request, then asked the man to go outside with him, Morris allegedly struck the man in the head with the hatchet when the man refused to go outside.

The resulting skirmish landed the couple in the hospital with various injuries — and Morris under arrest on charges that, besides the attempted murder charge, include two counts of first-degree assault, Class A felonies; two counts of second-degree assault, Class B felonies; and one count each of kidnapping and burglary, also Class B felonies.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.