FBI identifies suspect in California fertility clinic bombing
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FBI assistant director for the Los Angeles field office, Mr Akil Davis, and Palm Springs police chief Andrew Mills speaking to members of the media in Palm Springs, California.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PALM SPRINGS, California – A Federal Bureau of Investigation official on May 18 said investigators believe they have identified the suspect connected to a bombing near a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, and that he held “nihilistic ideations”.
The official identified the suspect as 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus.
“We are fairly confident that Mr Bartkus is our primary suspect,” said Mr Akil Davis, assistant director at the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, at a press conference.
“The subject had nihilistic ideations, and this was a targeted attack against the IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) facility. Make no mistake. We are treating this... as an intentional act of terrorism.”
A bomb detonated shortly before 11am local time on May 17 in or near a car parked outside the clinic, which was operated by American Reproductive Centres.
One person was killed and at least four were injured in the blast. Officials said on May 18 that no embryos stored inside the clinic were harmed by the blast.
Mr Davis said the FBI believes that Bartkus died in the blast, and that he had been trying to live-stream the attack. His body was discovered near the vehicle, a 2010 silver Ford Fusion.
Mr Davis added that the FBI was conducting a court-approved search at the suspect’s home.
“We do not believe there’s an ongoing threat to the public,” he said, adding that the FBI is tracking “a possible manifesto” as part of its investigation.
US media outlets reported a website contained messages that appeared to be linked to the suspect, in which he laid out a loose argument against human life.
“Basically, I’m a pro-mortalist,” the author wrote, according to a description of the site in the Los Angeles Times.
Video posted online after the attack showed the single-storey structure that houses some of the clinic’s operations. The bomb appeared to have ripped a gaping hole in one of its walls and caused damage throughout the building.
Officials said they are receiving hundreds of tips and collecting evidence, including pieces of the vehicle that exploded and were strewn in every direction.
Mr Davis said it is considered the largest bombing crime scene in southern California history.
Bartkus was not known to the FBI prior to the incident. REUTERS
The scene outside the American Reproductive Centres’ fertility clinic after a bomb blast in Palm Springs, California, on May 17.
PHOTO: AFP
