Two men were arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning in connection with an explosion that went off in Harvard Medical School over the weekend.
The pair, Logan David Patterson, 18, and Dominick Frank Cardoza, 20, face charges of conspiracy to damage by means of fire or an explosive, per the charging document.
Per police reports, at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday morning, an officer saw two persons fleeing the Goldenson Building following an explosion on the fourth floor, which houses the school’s Department of Neurobiology.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said Tuesday that the explosive was a Roman candle firework, and while the explosion was deliberate, there is no confirmed motive. No other devices were found at the scene, and no one was injured.
FBI Special Agent Ted Docks said the suspects’ conduct was “not only irresponsible and risky, it was criminal.” He added, “There are consequences for those who commit federal crimes.”
Witnesses told law enforcement officers that Patterson and Cardoza were visiting Wentworth College for Halloween parties on Saturday night. Wentworth is just half a mile from Harvard Medical School.
The pair allegedly chose Harvard’s Goldenson Building because it looked abandoned.
Security surveillance captured the suspects climbing scaffolding on the roof of the Goldenson at about 2:33 a.m., and it showed them fleeing in opposite directions after the explosion, a little before 3 a.m.
Officials said one of the men must have known he was on camera, because he threw the pants he was wearing in a garbage bin, which special agents later found.
In a message Harvard sent to students, the university wrote, “First and foremost, we want to reiterate that thankfully no one was injured. The small section of the fourth-floor hallway where the explosion took place has been cleared and is fully operational.”
The university added that there was no structural damage to the building, and all labs and equipment remain intact.