Video captures moment of deadly explosion at California fertility clinic
A newly released video shows the moment a car bomb detonated outside the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, on Saturday.
The footage, obtained by TMZ, shows the palm tree-lined building hit by a sudden blast followed by a towering plume of smoke.
The exterior and interior parts of the fertility clinic were heavily damaged, including windows blown out and sections of the building's front facade destroyed.
The blast resulted in the death of Guy Edward Bartkus, the 25-year-old suspect, and injured four others. Authorities are treating the incident as an act of domestic terrorism.
Surveillance footage and online postings suggest Bartkus parked at the rear of the building, ingested drugs and then detonated an explosive device.
The suspect, a resident of Twentynine Palms, reportedly held "pro-mortalism" beliefs and left behind writings expressing opposition to procreation. "Pro-mortalism," a radical offshoot of anti-natalism, views human reproduction as inherently immoral and embraces death as a moral corrective.
Investigators said they believe Bartkus attempted to livestream the attack, and a tripod and camera were found at the scene. Despite significant damage to the clinic, all embryos and reproductive materials were preserved, and the facility has since resumed operations.
"I received a call saying there was a massive explosion that destroyed a couple of our buildings. My biggest concern was obviously my staff and the embryos we have in storage," said Dr. Maher Abdallah, the clinic's director, after the attack. "Fortunately for us, our staff was unharmed and the IVF lab is intact, untouched, unharmed. The embryos are safe."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday evening that 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."
Bomb technicians scoured the blast site over the weekend as part of the ongoing investigation, which was led by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Officials have said this is the first high-profile case linked to the pro-mortalist ideology and are now monitoring it as a potential emerging threat. Authorities have urged families and communities to remain vigilant for signs of ideological extremism, especially among those who may feel disenfranchised.
As the investigation into the bombing continues, law enforcement is probing whether anyone assisted or encouraged the suspect in constructing the device.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
32 minutes ago
- Fox News
Business owners blast ‘weakened leadership' as blue city ranks among most dangerous in US
Business owners in Kansas City, Missouri, are fed up with the city's response to a string of crimes downtown, with one person saying they've had to "take matters into our own hands." Kansas City was named the eighth-most dangerous city in the country in 2024 based on murder and property crime rates per 100,000 people, according to U.S. News and World Report. The city ranks twentieth on the outlet's list for 2025. So far in 2025, there have been 61 homicides, versus 52 at this point in 2024, the Kansas City Police Department said. Between 2019 and 2023, property crimes in Kansas City spiked by 31%, according to KCUR. Homicides in Kansas City are lower than they were in 2023, when the city saw its deadliest year with 182. Andrew Cameron, founder of Donutology, told Fox News Digital in an interview that it feels like crime in Kansas City is "at an all-time high as far as we're concerned." "We do see some weakened leadership within the city, whether it be bureaucracy saying their hands are tied because the state controls the police or the prosecution declining to press charges just because there are so many instances and the police are understaffed," he said. Cameron said there have been two incidents over the past year when Donutology locations were either vandalized or robbed. "We've experienced multiple break-ins of our store. Sometimes they will take items inside the store. In our Trolley locations, they took our safe with cash in it. Just a few months later, we were broken into at our Westport location, where they just decided to kick the door in and not take anything," Cameron said. In video provided to Fox News Digital, two men are seen breaking into a Donutology store and leaving with a safe. In another incident at a separate Donutology location in Kansas City, a man is seen repeatedly throwing objects at the windows. Cameron told Fox News Digital he filed a police report on both incidents but didn't hear anything back. He said the city has offered money to help repair damage, but they don't cover anything taken from the store. "The city has also offered money to fix any vandalism, but their program doesn't cover the actual contents that were taken from the business. They're hoping insurance will cover it, but a lot of us small businesses have high deductibles, and it's almost – we're still out a lot of money. And when we're selling doughnuts at a couple dollars each, when you lose thousands of dollars, that's a lot of doughnuts to make up and a lot of customers. It really hurt us and set us back," Cameron said. Personal injury attorney Suzanne Hale-Robinson told Fox News Digital she has seen an exponential increase in vehicle break-ins in the past six to nine months. On one occasion, Hale-Robinson said someone squatted in an office located in her building. "One time, the floor above us had left their door unlocked over a weekend and somebody just had a nice, like, staycation in their office and then left with a couple laptops. So that's been like the break-ins in our building. Aside from that, we have a parking lot to the rear of our building and, yeah, luckily, my car, knock on wood, has not been broken into. I try not to leave anything in there, but you know probably 10 to 15 vehicles have been broken into," Hale-Robinson said. She said it's frustrating when police don't show up after a break-in, adding that her law firm has had to hire private security. "Initially, over the winter, we paid personally for private security to come because we couldn't get a response from the city. One thing that has been frustrating is the lack of them sending anybody out when there's an issue. So when we have a break-in, there's no police presence at all. We're being asked to go down to the station to make a report. And so that creates, I think, an inherent non-deterrent for criminals because there's no fear of immediate police reaction," Hale-Robinson said. Hale-Robinson said that while she recognizes there should be a better law enforcement response, the city needs to do more to address homelessness. "I do think there's blame that should be placed ... on the Kansas City government and how we're handling it and not just a focus on these individuals who, a lot of times, are houseless people that are [committing] crimes of desperation that is then fueled by the city's inability to help," she said. In an effort to fight property crime, Democrat Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas put forward a $1 million proposal in January to increase off-duty law enforcement presence in areas of the city with higher crime, according to KMBC. Fox News Digital reached out to Lucas for comment.
Fox News
32 minutes ago
- Fox News
Six migrants charged in SC mom's murder detailed crime in eerie messages: ‘Just the beginning'
Six illegal immigrants, ages 13 through 21, charged in connection with a South Carolina mother's "random" murder earlier this month allegedly texted each other about the crime afterward. Lancaster County Sheriff's Office deputies located Larisha Sharell Thompson, 40, deceased with a gunshot wound behind the wheel of her vehicle on Riverside Road in Lancaster, located about an hour south of Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 2. On May 12, authorities announced the arrests of Asael Aminadas Torres-Chirinos, 21; Jarby Ardon Ramos-Odari, 18; Jeyson Sobied Pineda-Salgado, 17; and three juveniles, ages 13, 14 and 15, in connection with Thompson's death and a separate burglary that occurred on April 30. Sixth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Melissa McGinnis said all six suspects charged admitted to robbing a car during a May 14 hearing, as The Rock Hill Herald first reported. In text messages allegedly exchanged between the suspects after Thompson's murder, they apparently used the phrases "mission fail" and "this is just the beginning," Lancaster County Sheriff's Office Deputy Justin Weiland testified on May 14, as the Herald reported. "The text messages that have been cited in open court show a complete lack of remorse by the defendants," former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon told Fox News Digital. "So, the evidence indicates… clearly, a premeditated plan. Then, after the murder is accomplished, there's just no remorse whatsoever or any regret expressed by any of them for murdering this innocent lady." Condon added that while the defendants in this case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, it is "really hard to understand how a human could do that to another human." "[T]he fact that we've allowed illegal immigrants into this state to commit such crimes shouldn't have happened." "But… it's happened here in South Carolina, and the fact that we've allowed illegal immigrants into this state to commit such crimes shouldn't have happened. It has happened," he said. "They're here. But I'm hoping the family…can take some comfort in the fact that the local authorities are prosecuting this case so vigorously so that there might be some measure of justice coming their way." The Lancaster County Sheriff's Department said Torres-Chirinos allegedly pulled the trigger. Defense attorneys for the juvenile defendants, Matthew Niemiec and Mark Grier, said the suspects were coerced into the alleged crime. Prosecutors described Torres-Chirinos as the "ringleader" of the group, according to The Herald. Fox News Digital has reached out to Niemiec and Grier, as well as attorneys for the three adult defendants, including public defender John Freeman and defense attorneys Geoffrey Dunn and Edgar Michael Pinilla. The Department of Homeland Security has placed detainers on all six individuals charged, Lancaster Sheriff Barry Faile said during a news conference earlier this month, adding that the community is a "much safer place today because these six individuals are off the streets." Faile alleged that the suspects pulled up alongside Thompson and fatally shot her in what authorities described as a "random robbery attempt." Authorities believe all six suspects were in the same vehicle with Torres-Chirinos, who was driving and allegedly fired the fatal shot at Thompson. They are accused of attempting to enter her vehicle and then fleeing the scene upon realizing that it was locked. On April 30, deputies were dispatched to the Van Wyck Mart at 644 Rock Hill Highway before 8 a.m. to investigate a burglary. The store owner told deputies that surveillance video footage showed several young men trying to get into the store around 10:30 p.m. on April 29. When they couldn't get inside, they allegedly broke open a door on the northwest corner of the building, which opened up to a bathroom that had access to the inside of the store. The suspects are also accused of firing a handgun at a security camera and the bathroom door. Detectives collected ballistics evidence at the scene. The location of the store the suspects allegedly broke into and the location of Thompson's murder are a seven-minute drive apart. Detectives determined that ballistic evidence recovered from the scene of the murder came from the same 9 mm handgun as those at the scene of the burglary days before. Through digital surveillance, investigators also identified Torres-Chirinos, the 21-year-old suspect, at the scene of both crimes. They questioned him at the sheriff's office on May 8, and by the end of that day, they had identified, located and detained the five additional suspects. "This mother of two was let down by the system." "These illegal immigrants shouldn't have been here to begin with. And had that not occurred, she would be living her life right now today," Condon said. "But they were allowed into this country. They weren't stopped. And so the depravity of the crime just shocks the conscience." WATCH: SC AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE ARRESTS OF 6 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN THOMPSON'S MURDER The three adult suspects are charged with murder, attempted armed robbery and second-degree burglary. Authorities believe Torres-Chirinos fired the handgun in both incidents, and he is charged with two counts of firearms possession during the commission of a crime and one count of firearms possession by an unlawful alien. A judge denied bond for all three men. Condon suspects prosecutors may pursue the death penalty against Torres-Chirinos. "I would suspect – again, without knowing all the ins and outs of this case – that the state will seek to have the younger ones being cooperating defendants in exchange for lesser sentences," he said. The three juvenile suspects are also charged with murder, attempted armed robbery and second-degree burglary. All six suspects are subject to removal from the United States under federal immigration law based on their immigration status, the sheriff's office said. "The Department of Homeland Security has placed detainers on these six," Faile said. "That doesn't mean the federal government will scoop them up and send them out of the country before their cases are heard in court. It simply means if, for any reason, any one or more of them becomes eligible for release before their charges are resolved in court, Homeland Security will take custody of them, and they will not be back out on the street. Our intention is that all six remain detained until they face the full weight of our judicial system."
Fox News
32 minutes ago
- Fox News
US government taking ‘dramatically different approach' using terrorism charges against drug cartels: FBI alum
A former FBI assistant director says the federal government is taking a "dramatically different approach" to how it approaches drug trafficking after several Sinaloa cartel leaders were slapped with terror-related charges. Both Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, were charged with narco-terrorism, material support of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering on May 13 as members of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. Five additional BLO leaders were charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. It's the first time that cartel members have been hit with terrorism-related charges, which Chris Swecker, former assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, told Fox News Digital is intended to send a message. "This administration is taking a dramatically different approach to fighting drug cartels, who are the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet right now," Swecker said. "It is perfect for narco-traffickers because if you can go after anyone who supports these trafficking cartels and leaders and members in any way, if they give them a paperclip, if they provide financial support, if they work for them, they're a hit man." "It also gives us some extra territorial punch, if you will. It gives us the ability, if we want to, to dip into foreign countries," he said. Swecker, who has run numerous investigations involving drug cartels, said the Trump administration's decision to use terrorism charges expands the number of people who can be charged, and increases the potential penalties. "This is a serious approach by treating them as terrorists. It increases the penalties that they're exposed to. It ups the ante when it comes to extradition," Swecker said. "It ups the ante when it comes to the seriousness of the charges. They can use RICO, they can use continuing criminal enterprise, they can use now material support to terrorist organizations, so now, all you have to do is be affiliated in any way with a drug cartel, and we can lower a 20-year sentence on you." On Feb. 20, the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Noriega allegedly worked closely with his son to "aggressively traffic" fentanyl into the United States, prosecutors said, adding that the two have led "one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world." The father and son trafficked "tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl" into the United States, according to federal prosecutors. Mexican law enforcement officials raided several locations in Sinaloa that are managed and controlled by the pair, seizing over 1.65 tons of fentanyl. Indictments are also pending against members of the BLO and Sinaloa cartel, which include Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Ismael Zambada Sicairos and Jose Gil Caro Quintero. All individuals, including Noriega and Coronel, remain at-large. Adam Gordon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, sent a message to the cartel leaders during a press conference announcing the charges. "Let me be direct: To the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, you are no longer the hunters. You are the hunted. You will be betrayed by your friends. You will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California," Gordon said.
