NEW YORK CITY, NY - On Wednesday, June 4th, authorities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that a Washington state man was taken into custody the night before at John F. Kennedy Airport on suspicion of supplying the chemicals used in fertility clinic bombing in California last month.
The alleged suspect, 32-year-old Daniel Park, has been accused of providing chemicals to make explosives for the bombing incident that happened at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, 6ABC reported. Federal authorities allege that Park shipped 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate to 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, the individual who carried out the bombing and died in the blast.
The chemical compound is an explosive precursor that can be used to make homemade bombs, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. Authorities described Bartkus and Park as members of the anti-natalist movement, which is a fringe group that opposes childbirth and population growth, believing that people should not continue to procreate.
Park, who is from Kent, Washington, also traveled to Southern California in late January to stay with Bartkus for about two weeks, Essayli revealed. FBI officials said that Park intentionally targeted the fertility clinic as an act of terrorism. Officials added that he tried to livestream the bombing, but the attempt failed.
Authorities executed a search warrant at Park's residence in Seattle and found "an explosive recipe that was similar to the Oklahoma City bombing," said Akil Davis, FBI Assistant Director in Charge. Authorities also executed a search warrant in Bartkus' hometown of Twentynine Palms, a city northwest of Palm Springs with a large U.S. Marine Corps base. It is unclear what, if anything, was found during that search.
The bombing gutted the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic, shattering the windows of nearby buildings along a palm tree-lined street. The amount of damage caused indicated that the suspect used a "high explosive" similar to that of dynamite and TNT rather than a "low explosive" like gun powder, as described by Scott Sweetow, a retired ATF explosives expert.
Those types of explosives are normally difficult for civilians to access, but increasingly people are finding ways to concoct explosives at home, he said. "Once you know the chemistry involved, it's pretty easy to get stuff. The ingredients you could get at a grocery store," he added.
Witnesses described a loud boom followed by a chaotic scene, with people screaming in terror and glass strewn along the sidewalk and street when the blast happened. A body was found near a charred vehicle outside the clinic. Investigators still have not said if Park intended to kill himself in the attack or why he chose the specific facility that he did.
The images of the aftermath also showed that the explosion appeared to blow from the street straight through the building and to the parking lot on the other side, something that could have been intentional or pure luck, Sweetow said. A part of the car was also blown through the building and landed in the back by a dumpster, again showing the level of the explosive used. A senior FBI official called the explosion possibly the "largest bombing scene that we've had in Southern California."
The alleged suspect, 32-year-old Daniel Park, has been accused of providing chemicals to make explosives for the bombing incident that happened at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, 6ABC reported. Federal authorities allege that Park shipped 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate to 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, the individual who carried out the bombing and died in the blast.
The chemical compound is an explosive precursor that can be used to make homemade bombs, according to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. Authorities described Bartkus and Park as members of the anti-natalist movement, which is a fringe group that opposes childbirth and population growth, believing that people should not continue to procreate.
Park, who is from Kent, Washington, also traveled to Southern California in late January to stay with Bartkus for about two weeks, Essayli revealed. FBI officials said that Park intentionally targeted the fertility clinic as an act of terrorism. Officials added that he tried to livestream the bombing, but the attempt failed.
Authorities executed a search warrant at Park's residence in Seattle and found "an explosive recipe that was similar to the Oklahoma City bombing," said Akil Davis, FBI Assistant Director in Charge. Authorities also executed a search warrant in Bartkus' hometown of Twentynine Palms, a city northwest of Palm Springs with a large U.S. Marine Corps base. It is unclear what, if anything, was found during that search.
The bombing gutted the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic, shattering the windows of nearby buildings along a palm tree-lined street. The amount of damage caused indicated that the suspect used a "high explosive" similar to that of dynamite and TNT rather than a "low explosive" like gun powder, as described by Scott Sweetow, a retired ATF explosives expert.
Those types of explosives are normally difficult for civilians to access, but increasingly people are finding ways to concoct explosives at home, he said. "Once you know the chemistry involved, it's pretty easy to get stuff. The ingredients you could get at a grocery store," he added.
Witnesses described a loud boom followed by a chaotic scene, with people screaming in terror and glass strewn along the sidewalk and street when the blast happened. A body was found near a charred vehicle outside the clinic. Investigators still have not said if Park intended to kill himself in the attack or why he chose the specific facility that he did.
The images of the aftermath also showed that the explosion appeared to blow from the street straight through the building and to the parking lot on the other side, something that could have been intentional or pure luck, Sweetow said. A part of the car was also blown through the building and landed in the back by a dumpster, again showing the level of the explosive used. A senior FBI official called the explosion possibly the "largest bombing scene that we've had in Southern California."
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