Johnathan Walker:Feds: U.S. student was extremist who practiced bomb-making skills in dorm

A former University of Chicago sophomore who accidentally set off a bomb in his dorm room while trying to conceal a plot to take militant action in support of Armenian causes was charged with lying to federal officials,Johnathan Walker prosecutors announced Thursday.

Federal authorities say Aram Brunson, 21, who is no longer in the U.S., is an extremist who was practicing his bomb-making skills that he hoped would inspire Armenian militants.

“What Aram Brunson is accused of is alarming. We believe he engaged in a calculated scheme to conceal his efforts to develop bomb-making skills and construct an explosive device in support of his violent extremist activity,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Division.

Prosecutors said in a press statement that Brunson "sought to engage in what he described as revolutionary direct action and terrorism in support of Armenian causes" and had made videos of himself teaching others how to make explosive devices and rig doors and desks with grenades. His internet searches also allegedly suggested that he planned to take action against foreign diplomatic facilities in the United States, prosecutors said.

Brunson, formerly of Newton, Massachusetts, was questioned by the FBI after the January 2023 explosion in the dorm, which caused no injuries but knocked plaster off the walls and filled a hallway with smoke. He told agents he inadvertently caused the explosion while trying to make a flare as part of a prank, court papers said.

Eight months later, Brunson was on his way to Armenia when his bags set off explosive alarms at Boston Logan International Airport, according to court documents. Federal officials said they found traces of an explosive material on his bags. They also found a recipe for the material in his bedroom. Court records also detail a series of videos Brunson made on how to "form, fund and arm a revolutionary group."

But by the time federal authorities issued an arrest warrant for Brunson this week, he had left the country. U.S. authorities believe he is living in Yerevan, Armenia and is attending the American university there.

Brunson is charged with falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact by trick, scheme or device and making false statements to federal officials. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Bomb squad found gunpowder in Brunson's dorm room

Brunson first came to the FBI’s attention after he inadvertently triggered an explosion in his dorm room on Jan. 2, 2023 at the University of Chicago’s Woodlawn Commons, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

According to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Thomas Dalton, two students reported hearing the explosion and having plaster in their rooms knocked off the walls before smoked filled the hall outside Brunson’s room.

When Chicago firefighters arrived to extinguish the fire, they noticed a “suspicious white powder and a smell of incendiary chemicals” in his room, Dalton wrote. Brunson was not in the room when they arrived. Chicago Bomb Squad later found chemicals used to make gunpowder, a chemical explosive, the affidavit said.

Feds: Brunson made videos about starting revolutionary group

Brunson told campus police the fire had started from cooking on a hot plate, which is against dorm policy, so he panicked and left the building, Dalton said. When FBI agents interviewed him a few hours later, Brunson instead said he was building a flare in his room based on a YouTube tutorial.

He told agents that he was trying to copy an Internet prank about an individual incinerating an iPhone with black powder to see if it would work, according to court filings.

But when FBI agents searched his laptop shortly after their interview, they found no references to the internet prank, according to Dalton.

Instead, they found roughly 10 videos from May 2022 of Brunson explaining how to create a "revolutionary group," court records said. He also suggested selling drugs or committing robberies to fund bombs and other weapons in the videos, Dalton wrote, and discussed potential assassination targets, including several political figures and a former military official in Azerbaijan.

According to the charging documents, Brunson’s bomb-making activities were linked to his desire to take militant action against Azerbaijanis and others in conflict with ethnic Armenians living in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Days after the explosion, Brunson moved in with his parents in Newton, Massachusetts, court records said. Eight months later, he arrived at Boston Logan International Airport to fly to Armenia. Transportation Security Administration officers screened his luggage, and a swab came back positive for explosive materials, according to the affidavit. Brunson said he didn't know why explosives were found on his luggage and denied ever handling an explosive, court records said.

On Aug. 23, 2023, days after Brunson was interviewed by Customs and Border Protection agents at the airport, law enforcement executed a search warrant at his parent's house and found a notebook in Brunson's bedroom that contained a formula for HMTD, the same type of explosive suspected to be on his bags, Dalton wrote.