Two charged in Harvard Medical School explosion conspiracy

(WWLP) – Two suspects have been charged in connection with an explosion on Harvard Medical School's (HMS) campus last weekend.

Logan David Patterson, 18, and Dominick Frank Cardoza, 20, were arrested Tuesday and each charged with one count of conspiracy to damage, by means of fire or an explosive.

At around 2:23 a.m. EDT on Saturday, two suspects were seen in surveillance video on Huntington Avenue and Longwood Avenue in Boston walking toward the HMS campus, according to charging documents. The pair, wearing face coverings and dark clothing, were allegedly lighting Roman candle fireworks.

The suspects then allegedly climbed over a chain-link fence into a construction area surrounding the Goldenson Building before scaling scaffolding beside the building to access the roof. Campus police received a fire alarm alert at approximately 2:45 a.m. from an explosion on the Goldenson Building's fourth floor, which houses a research laboratory within the school's Department of Neurobiology.

The explosive — believed to have been a large, commercial firework — was determined by investigators to have been detonated within a wooden locker in the research laboratory.

During a news conference to announce the arrests Tuesday, FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks called the detonation an "extremely dangerous act that could have resulted in casualties had the Goldenson Building been occupied at that time."

Police say security footage cameras captured the suspects visiting the fifth floor of the building between 2:45 and 2:50 a.m. before they left through a first-floor emergency door, escaping in the opposite direction. No one was hurt in the blast.

"This explosive device had the potential to cause significant injury to anyone nearby," Docks said. "Only by sheer luck and because of a rapid response of first responders, no lives were lost, no one was injured and property damage was limited."

Cardoza, of Bourne, was allegedly captured by surveillance sitting on a bench, removing his pants, and putting them in a nearby garbage bin.

Nearby surveillance at the Wentworth Institute of Technology allegedly captured Patterson, of Plymouth, intermittently running between buildings and trying to enter a residential campus building before being let in by a passerby.

Investigators say that Patterson left the building around 3:40 a.m. to meet up with Cardoza and a third person. The trio allegedly tried to enter another residential building before toward the Massachusetts College of Art and Design campus.

Authorities say Patterson could then be seen taking off his sweatpants and sweatshirt as the three suspects walked along Huntington Avenue. Witnesses would later tell investigators that Patterson and Cardoza had attended Halloween social events at Wentworth College.

The suspects will appear in federal court in Boston on Tuesday.

"Setting off an explosive device inside a locker at an institution geared toward higher education is not some harmless college prank," Docks said. "It's selfish, it's short-sighted and it's a federal crime."

Law enforcement continues to investigate this incident and analysis of the explosive is ongoing.