A bomb outside a fertility clinic is being investigated as terrorism
Los Angeles Police Chief Akil Davis, the Lead Deputy Director of the Los Angeles Field Office, and Attorney General Pam Bondi – A Comment on the “Saturday Morning Explosion”
One person was killed and four were injured in the weekend blast that sent debris flying across multiple blocks in all directions, said Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
The public was not in any danger, according to the Palm Springs Police Chief. “I want our community to be aware of the incident, as it is an isolated incident.” I am confident that the community is not at risk any longer,” he said.
There was no harm to staff members or its reproductive materials, even though a vehicle exploded in the parking lot.
The post said that the moment had shaken them but it had not stopped them. We will serve with strength, love and hope in order to bring new life into the world.
AttorneyGeneral Pam Bondi said she had been briefed on the explosion. “We are working to learn more, but let me be clear: the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America,” she said in a post on X. “Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable.”
What We Know About the Palm Springs Fertilization Clinic Bombing: The 25-Year-old Black Hole Jacob Barktus
First responders arrived at the scene of an explosion on North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs around 11 a.m. local time, finding a debris field 250 yards in size.
Davis said Barktus might have been trying to make a video of the bombing. The 25-year-old had not previously appeared on the FBI’s radar but may have had encounters with other law enforcement agencies, Davis added.
According to LAist, Bartkus posted writings and an audio recording about the attack online, which surfaced in the aftermath of the weekend bombing. He believed that it was morally acceptable to end suffering by killing people, according to the website. “Basically I’m anti-life,” Bartkus said in the recording. “And IVF is like kind of the epitome of pro-life ideology.” NPR has not independently verified this audio.
FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller also confirmed that the agency was scrutinizing evidence “indicating antinatalist views,” which refers to an ideology that proposes it’s wrong to have children.
They were looking into online posts and other writings by Bartkus. “This was an attack on the IVF facility, because the subject has nihilistic thoughts,” Davis said Sunday. Nihilism is a philosophy that rejects values and beliefs and views existence as useless.
On the bombing of an embryonic clinic in Palm Springs, Calif., which was discovered by a California man with an antinatalist leaning
Officials were “fairly confident” that the deceased person found near the vehicle was Bartkus, Davis said, adding that Bartkus had been driving a silver 2010 Ford Fusion sedan.
On Sunday, the FBI identified its prime suspect in the bombing as Bartkus, who lived in Twentynine Palms, a town about 60 miles northeast of Palm Springs. The investigators said they had executed a search warrant there.
In a news conference on Sunday, Davis of the FBI thanked the Palm Springs police and fire departments as well as FBI bomb technicians for working quickly to ensure that none of the embryos at the facility were lost.
The clinic said that in times like these they are reminded of how fragile and precious life is.
The Clinic posted a picture on the internet of its badly damaged facade, which contained building materials and glass strewn across the road.
The blast cut through the American Reproductive Centers (ARC) fertility clinic, which has been operating in Palm Springs since 2006, according to its website.
The bomb was large and powerful, and was capable of throwing pieces of a vehicle hundreds of feet in the air. He wouldn’t say what type of materials were used in the bomb.
The size of the blast was much larger than that which killed eight people at the Aliso Viejo spa. Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said that this was the largest bombing scene they had seen in Southern California.
The 25-year-old California resident held nihilistic views and may have also had antinatalist leanings, the FBI said. The clinic was targeted in the bombing, and investigators are treating it as a domestic terrorism attack.
