Dad makes bizarre revelation about what IVF clinic suicide bomber son hated
Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, detonated a car bomb that rocked the American Reproductive Centers building in Palm Springs, east of Los Angeles.
None of the facility's embryos were damaged in the attack, which the FBI has called an act of terrorism.
Authorities said Bartkus, who died in the explosion, left behind nihilistic writings that indicated views against procreation, an idea known as anti-natalism.
But his father Richard Bartkus has challenged that description, suggesting his son is not a killer or terrorist, but should instead be called a 'suicide bomber.'
'A terrorist is out to kill people, destroy life. He wasn't there to destroy life,' he told FOX 11. 'He was there against test tube baby. He was not anti-life, he was anti test tube baby.'
Richard said his son, whom he described as a 'bright kid' and 'computer', believed that 'people who had test tube babies they would never really love the child as their own'.
He also claimed that he does not believe Bartkus acted alone in the plot, although authorities have not released any information confirming that theory.
Saturday's explosion gutted the clinic and shattered the windows of nearby buildings along a palm tree-lined street.
Passersby described a loud boom, with people screaming in terror and glass strewn along sidewalks of the upscale desert city.
Bartkus' body was found near a charred vehicle.
Authorities are working to learn more about Bartkus' motives. They haven't said if he intended to kill himself in the attack or why he chose the specific facility.
His writings communicated 'nihilistic ideations' that were still being examined to determine his state of mind, said US Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in the area. In general, nihilism suggests that life is meaningless.
Investigators claim that Bartkus appeared to hold anti-natalist views, which include a belief that it is morally wrong for people to bring children into the world.
The clinic he attacked provides services to help people get pregnant, including in vitro fertilization and fertility evaluations.
Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, called the attack possibly the 'largest bombing scene that we've had in Southern California.'
'This was a targeted attack against the IVF facility,' Davis said Sunday. 'Make no mistake: We are treating this, as I said yesterday, as an intentional act of terrorism.'
Authorities executed a search warrant in Bartkus' hometown of Twentynine Palms, a city of 28,000 residents northeast of Palm Springs with a large US Marine Corps base.
Bartkus lived at home with his mother and sister, and reportedly hadn't seen or spoken to his father in several years.
His neighbors told FOX 11 that the suspected bomber mostly kept to himself, with one community resident alleging 'that was probably the way he wanted it.'
'You know a lot of times when people do stuff like this they kind of stay away from the public eye, stay away from attention,' the neighbor added.
However, the FBI says that Bartkus tried to livestream the explosion, but the attempt failed.
Authorities haven't shared specifics about the explosives used to make the bomb and where Bartkus may have obtained them.
Scott Sweetow, a retired ATF explosives expert, said the amount of damage caused indicated that the suspect used a 'high explosive' similar to dynamite and TNT rather than a 'low explosive' like gun powder.
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,' Sweetow said. 'The ingredients you could get at a grocery store.'
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.
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