A former student of the University of Chicago has now been federally charged, accused of concealing activities linked to bomb-making following an explosion in his dorm room last year. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the charges allege that Aram Brunson, 21 and originally from Massachusetts, planned to use the explosives for militant action in support of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The incident, which set off a fire in the student's dormitory at Woodlawn Commons, prompted an investigation that uncovered chemicals for making bombs. Authorities assert that Brunson lied initially, claiming his experiment was meant to recreate an online prank, as per the Chicago Sun-Times. The subsequent scrutiny of his activities suggested a far more sinister intent, as outlined in a federal complaint, and a more dire scheme for violent action than was at first apparent.
Investigators, in their examination of Brunson's digital footprint, uncovered videos in which he appears to teach how to create bombs and talks of establishing an armed group. The Chicago Sun-Times report notes that Brunson also made searches for Turkish and Azerbaijani diplomatic facilities globally, coupled with looking up grappling hooks and building access, hinting at potential external targets for his plans.
FBI agents found materials such as "two pounds of potassium nitrate," and received allegations that Brunson had recorded himself planning terrorist actions, as detailed by ABC7 Chicago. After the dormitory incident, Brunson was later stopped at Boston's Logan Airport for traces of explosive material in his luggage, although he was then permitted to continue traveling to Armenia with his family.
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