Harvard Bomb Plot: Two Men Arrested in Campus Explosion

BOSTON – A brazen attempt to damage Harvard Medical School’s Goldenson Building with a large commercial firework has landed two Massachusetts men in federal custody. Logan David Patterson, 18, of Plymouth, Mass., and Dominick Frank Cardoza, 20, of Bourne, Mass., are facing serious charges after a late-night operation that triggered a fire alarm and a full investigation.

According to charging documents, the pair were caught on surveillance footage creeping onto the Harvard Medical School campus around 2:23 a.m. on November 1, 2025. Both were masked and dressed in dark clothing, moving with a clear purpose towards the Goldenson Building, which houses a research laboratory within HMS’s Department of Neurobiology. What followed was a calculated climb – over a chain-link fence, up scaffolding – to gain access to the building’s roof.

Just before 2:45 a.m., an explosion rocked the fourth floor of the Goldenson Building. Campus police responded to a fire alarm and discovered an explosive device – believed to be a large, commercial firework – had detonated inside a wooden locker in the research lab. Security footage allegedly shows Patterson and Cardoza moving through the building, even reaching the fifth floor, before making a hasty exit through a first-floor emergency exit and scattering in opposite directions. The ongoing analysis of the explosive is expected to reveal more about the device and its potential for harm.

The aftermath was a scramble to evade capture. Surveillance footage captured Cardoza, at approximately 2:57 a.m., ditching his pants in a garbage bin. Patterson, meanwhile, made a beeline for the nearby Wentworth Institute of Technology, desperately trying to enter a residential building and eventually charging his phone near the attendant’s desk. He was then seen talking on his cell phone. Later, the two met up with a third individual and attempted to enter another residential building before heading towards the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, shedding clothing along the way – Patterson stuffing his sweatpants into his shorts, and Cardoza reportedly down to his shorts or boxer shorts while still wearing a hooded jacket and sneakers.

Investigators learned the pair had allegedly been at Wentworth College for Halloween social activities, but their late-night adventure quickly escalated into a federal crime. Both Logan David Patterson and Dominick Frank Cardoza are each charged with one count of conspiracy to damage, by means of an explosive, the Goldenson Building at Harvard Medical School. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

The investigation is ongoing, led by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley, Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, and Denis Downing, Interim Chief of the Harvard University Police Department. The Grimy Times will continue to follow this developing story and bring you the unvarnished truth from the streets and the courtrooms.