BOSTON (AP) — Two Massachusetts men were arrested Tuesday in connection with a weekend explosion at Harvard Medical School, authorities said.
Logan David Patterson and Dominick Frank Cardoza face charges of conspiracy to damage by means of fire or an explosive, according to the charging document. Patterson, an 18-year-old from Plymouth, and Cardoza, a 20-year-old from Bourne, were arrested Tuesday morning and were due to be arraigned in federal court later in the day.
The explosion occurred early Saturday on the fourth floor of Harvard Medical School's Goldenson Building, which houses labs and offices associated with the school’s neurobiology department. No one was injured.
“Anxiety levels naturally rise when the public learns that an explosion was intentionally caused. I would say those levels may rise even higher in the Boston area,” U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said at a news conference, noting that the investigation is ongoing but that there's no further threat to the university.
According to the charging document, witnesses said the men were visiting Wentworth College for Halloween activities, including parties at area schools. On the day of the blast, surveillance footage captured the two walking toward Harvard's medical school. Witnesses said the pair chose the building because it looked abandoned and got into it via the roof, the charging document states.
Witnesses said the pair lit a roman candle outside of the building and placed a cherry bomb inside of a locker in the building that then exploded, according to the charging document.
“Let me be clear: Setting off an explosive device inside a locker at an institution geared toward higher education is not some harmless college prank. It’s selfish, it’s short-sighted, and it’s a federal crime,” said Ted Docks, the FBI's special agent in charge.
Neither Foley nor Docks would speculate as to the motive.
Medical school officials said the explosion caused no structural damage and that all labs and equipment remained intact. The Boston Fire Department determined that the explosion was intentional. Police said officers did not find additional devices during a sweep of the building.
An officer who responded to a fire alarm that morning encountered two people running from the building, university police said.
This photo provided by the Harvard University Police Department shows a person of interest in an explosion at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Harvard University Police Department via AP)
This photo provided by the Harvard University Police Department shows a person of interest in an explosion at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Harvard University Police Department via AP)
HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance cast doubt Friday on whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.”
The Republican vice president said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting spree at the military base in 2009.
“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance said.
“Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he added.
Vance is a convert to the Catholic Church, which has long opposed capital punishment.
President Donald Trump had endorsed Hasan's execution by firing squad during a Wednesday political event in Texas, suggesting “he deserves it.”
However, Trump was noncommittal when asked Friday whether he wanted the execution livestreamed. "Well, they’re making a determination about that,” Trump told reporters before traveling to a political event in Syracuse, New York.
But he again endorsed the firing squad as the method.
“He will be killed. He will be, through firing squad,” Trump told reporters. “I really don’t care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him.”
Trump did not answer when asked if he would watch a livestreamed execution.
Earlier Friday morning, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the U.S. government’s decision to livestream Hasan's execution.
“It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the conference, said in a statement. He added that the decision was “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
Trump approved the execution by firing squad days after a failed attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection late last month pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions in that state this year.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military hasn’t executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.
This story has been corrected to show the military base's name is Fort Hood, not Ford Hood.
Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026 in Hebron, Ky., as he departs for a rally in Lima, Ohio. (Samuel Corum/Pool Photo via AP)
