Federal authorities announced the arrest of two Massachusetts men on Tuesday, alleging their involvement in an explosion at a Harvard Medical School research laboratory this past weekend.
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley stated that 18-year-old Logan Patterson and 20-year-old Dominique Cardosa were taken into custody early Tuesday morning and charged for their alleged roles in the incident.
According to charging documents, the explosion occurred at approximately 2:45 a.m. on Saturday, November 1st, inside a building at 220 Longwood Avenue. The blast originated from a locker on the fourth floor, which houses a research laboratory for the medical school’s Department of Neurobiology.
Authorities detailed a sequence of events captured by surveillance footage. At approximately 2:33 a.m., two suspects were seen wearing face coverings and lighting what appeared to be a Roman candle firework near the medical school. About ten minutes later, the individuals were allegedly recorded climbing scaffolding on the side of the building and accessing the roof.
A short time later, campus police were alerted to a fire alarm triggered by an explosion on the fourth floor. Security video then showed the two defendants exiting the building through a first-floor emergency exit and fleeing the area in opposite directions.
“The defendants were aware that they may have been caught on security footage because they began ditching distinctive items of clothing that they were previously wearing,” Foley said, citing the charging documents.
The explosive device, which detonated inside a research lab locker, is believed to have been a large commercial-grade firework.
Following the release of suspect photos to the public, tips from community members identified Cardosa and Patterson as the alleged culprits. U.S. Attorney Foley credited these “principled individuals” for enabling investigators to quickly piece together evidence and identify the suspects.
“There’s no doubt what these men allegedly did in conspiring to commit a deliberate and extremely dangerous act could have resulted in casualties had the building been occupied at that time,” Foley stated. “This explosive device had the potential to cause significant injury to anyone nearby.”
Officials emphasized that the outcome could have been far worse. “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,” Foley said.
The investigation, which combined surveillance video review and evidence collection, led to the arrests of Patterson and Cardosa, who now face charges for their alleged involvement in the explosion.
