Photo courtesy of the FDNY
“This defendant allegedly entered his ex-girlfriend’s apartment to steal her stove which he was planning to sell in exchange for drugs,” Clark said. “His alleged disregard for the residents set in motion a chain of events that claimed the life of an innocent man, injured 11 others and has upended the lives of the residents.
The district attorney said the defendant, Samuel Calderon was arraigned Wednesday on a total of 17 charges, two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of first-degree assault, five counts of second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, third-degree burglary, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree criminal contempt and petit larceny before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alvin Yearwood. She said he continues to be held in custody and is due back in court in May.
According to the investigation, shortly after midnight on Jan. 24, the defendant allegedly entered his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on the 13th floor of 3475 Bivona Street in the Boston Secor Houses, a NYCHA complex. Calderon allegedly removed the stove and by so doing caused a gas leak. The court heard that he is seen on video surveillance wheeling the stove down the hall on a dolly.
Prosecutors said the gas seeped to upper floors and at around 12.37 a.m., as fire crews responded to the building, the gas ignited in a 17th floor apartment, causing an explosion that collapsed the ceiling of the 16th floor hallway onto Ronald McCallister, 60, killing him. They said the explosion caused a fire which injured 11 people, one of them critically burned. As reported, Calderon was later arrested. Prosecutors said this happened outside the building four days later when he returned to check the mailbox.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Joseph Gattuso of the Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Burim Namani, deputy chief of the Homicide Bureau, Christine Scaccia, chief of the Homicide Bureau, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the Trial Division and Terry Gottlieb, chief of Trial Division.
Clark thanked Trial Preparation Assistant Kimberly Cameron for her work on the case, along with NYPD Detective Patrick Horkan from the 47th Detective Squad and Detective Brianna Costantino from Bronx Homicide.
Calderon is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.