Two young men have been arrested for setting off a Roman candle firework inside Harvard Medical School over the weekend, authorities announced Tuesday.
Logan Patterson, 18, and Dominick Cardoza, 20, were charged in connection with an explosion that rocked the Goldenson Building on the world-renowned university’s Boston campus, officials said at a press conference.
No one was injured in the blast, which occurred around 3 a.m. Saturday on the fourth floor of the building, which houses labs and offices associated with the school’s neurobiology department.
Patterson and Cardoza were captured on surveillance video running away from the scene, and cops quickly released their photos and urged the public to help identify them.
“Anxiety levels naturally rise when the public learns that an explosion was intentionally caused,” Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said at a press conference. “I would say those levels may rise even higher in the Boston area.”
The two men, both Massachusetts residents, were visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology for Halloween festivities, according to investigators. The Goldenson Building at Harvard is just a nine-minute walk from Wentworth.
Patterson and Cardoza chose the building because it appeared abandoned, police said. They snuck in through the roof and set off the firework inside, according to charging documents.
The blast caused no structural damage and minimal property damage, investigators said. A security officer responding to the sound of the explosion on Saturday attempted to stop the two suspects as they fled, but they eluded him.
Patterson and Cardoza were both arrested Tuesday in separate locations. They were each charged with conspiracy to damage by means of fire or an explosive.
“Setting off an explosive device inside a locker at an institution geared toward higher education is not some harmless college prank,” FBI agent Ted Docks said. “It’s selfish, it’s short-sighted, and it’s a federal crime.”
With News Wire Services
