A 25-year-old man the FBI believes was accountable for an explosion that ripped via a Southern California fertility clinic left behind “anti-pro-life” writings earlier than finishing up an assault investigators referred to as terrorism, authorities mentioned Sunday.
Man Edward Bartkus of Twentynine Palms, California, was recognized by the FBI because the suspect within the obvious automotive bomb detonation Saturday that broken the clinic within the upscale metropolis of Palm Springs within the desert east of Los Angeles. His writings appeared to point anti-natalist views, which maintain that folks mustn’t proceed to procreate, authorities mentioned.
The blast gutted the American Reproductive Facilities fertility clinic and shattered the home windows of close by buildings alongside a palm tree-lined road. Witnesses described a loud growth adopted by a chaotic scene, with folks screaming in terror and glass strewn alongside the sidewalk and road.
Investigators mentioned Barktus died within the blast, which a senior FBI official referred to as probably the “largest bombing scene that we’ve had in Southern California.” A physique was discovered close to a charred automobile exterior the clinic.
Bartkus tried to livestream the explosion and left behind writings that communicated “nihilistic ideations” that have been nonetheless being examined to find out his way of thinking, mentioned Akil Davis, the assistant director answerable for the FBI’s Los Angeles discipline workplace. U.S. Legal professional Bilal “Bill” Essayli, the highest federal prosecutor within the space, referred to as the message “anti-pro-life.”
“This was a targeted attack against the IVF facility,” Davis mentioned Sunday. “Make no mistake: we are treating this, as I said yesterday, as an intentional act of terrorism.”
The bombing injured 4 different folks, although Davis mentioned all embryos on the facility have been saved.
“Good guys one, bad guys zero,” he mentioned.
Authorities have been executing a search warrant in Twentynine Palms, a metropolis of 28,000 residents about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Palm Springs, as a part of the investigation.
“Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients,” Dr. Maher Abdallah, who leads the clinic, instructed The Related Press in a cellphone interview Saturday.
