One Resident Killed, 11 Injured; Defendant Allegedly Took Stove to Sell for Crack Cocaine
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a man was indicted on seconddegree Murder, Burglary, Assault and other related charges for allegedly instigating a gas leak in an apartment building which resulted in an explosion that killed a tenant.
District Attorney Clark said, “This defendant allegedly entered his ex-girlfriend’s apartment to steal her stove which he was planning to sell in exchange for drugs. 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.
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Samuel Calderon, 55, address unknown, was arraigned today 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. Remand is continued. He is due back in court on May 18, 2026.
According to the investigation, shortly after midnight on January 24, 2026, the defendant allegedly entered his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on the 13 th floor of 3475 Bivona Street in the Boston Secor Houses. Calderon allegedly removed the stove and by so doing caused a gas leak. He is seen on video surveillance wheeling the stove down the hall on a dolly. The gas seeped to upper floors and at approximately 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. The explosion caused a fire which injured 11 people, one of them critically burned. Calderon was arrested by police outside the building four days later when he returned to check the mailbox.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Patrick Horkan from the 47th Detective Squad and Detective Brianna Costantino from Bronx Homicide for their work in the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
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