A pair of men were indicted Wednesday for their part in a Bronx explosion at a marijuana grow house that killed an FDNY deputy chief last month, according to the Bronx district attorney’s office.
The two men who allegedly ran the grow house, Garivaldi Castillo, 32, and Julio Salcedo, 34, were charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and criminal possession of marijuana, according to prosecutors. Both were held without bail on Wednesday.
If convicted of the top charge, they could face up to 25 years in prison.
Michael Fahy, 44, a father of three and a 17-year veteran with the department, was killed when he responded to a report of a possible gas leak at the Kingsbridge home on Sept. 27.
When firefighters got there, they allegedly found marijuana plants, heaters, fertilizer, and tanks of helium, according to prosecutors.
They evacuated the building and those surrounding it, authorities said, but the building exploded. Fahy was directing the operation in the street when he was fatally struck by a part of the roof.
Several other firefighters and civilians were injured in the blast as well.
Police were already in “the initial stages of an investigation on that block” based on information they received several weeks before, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill has said.
