Story by Ethan
On February 25th, 2026, the arrest of Samuel Calderon, age 55, was announced by Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark. Samuel Calderon was charged with four counts of first-degree Assault, first second and third-degree Burglary, first-degree Reckless Endangerment, five counts of second-degree Assault, two counts of second-degree Murder, second-degree Criminal Contempt, and Petite Larceny. The arrest and charges against Samuel Calderon were a result of an investigation handled by NYPD Detective Patrick Horkan from the 47th Detective Squad and Detective Brianna Costantino from Bronx Homicide.
According to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, at approximately right after midnight on January 24th, 2026, Samuel Calderon arrived on the 13th floor in the Boston Secor Houses at 3475 Bivona Street in Bronx, New York. The defendant’s ex-girlfriend’s apartment is located here where he allegedly entered and removed the stove which led to a gas leak. Video surveillance inside the building captured Samuel Calderon wheeling the stove on a dolly down the hallway. The gas was determined to have spread up to the other upper floors before an explosion in a 17th floor apartment caused by the leak. Fire crews responded to the building at 12:37 a.m. and found that the explosion collapsed the ceiling of another apartment of the 16th floor’s hallway which killed 60-year-old resident Ronald McCallister. The explosion also started a fire that ended up injuring 11 other residents, one of them ending up with critical burns. Samuel Calderon was arrested without incident four days later outside of the building when he returned to check the mail.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Samuel Calderon are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
