At least one dead after ‘car explosion' at fertility clinic in Palm Springs
Firefighters in Palm Springs have responded to an explosion at the American Reproductive Center that has left at least one person dead and five people injured, according to reports.
The deceased person is believed to be a suspect, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Speaking to the Palm Springs Post, Lt. William Hutchinson with the Palm Springs Police Department confirmed that a car was responsible for the explosion. The department confirmed that one person has been killed.
'Everything is in question, whether this is an act of terrorism,' Hutchinson told The Desert Sun.
Palm Springs Mayor Ron DeHarte told The Los Angeles Times in a text that he could 'confirm it was a bomb in or near a vehicle parked at the building. One deceased.'
A witness told the Post that he saw human remains in the street.
'In front of the building [the car] was blown clear across four lanes into the parking lot of [Desert Regional Medical Center],' the witness said. 'I could see the back of the car still on fire and the rims. That was the only thing that distinguishes it as a car.'
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has confirmed that the FBI is investigating the incident to determine whether it was intentional. According to spokesperson Nicole Lozano, investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are also working to assess what happened.
American Reproductive Centers, a fertility clinic and IVF lab, is located at 1199 N Indian Canyon Drive, across the street from the Desert Regional Medical Center. A hospital spokesperson has confirmed that the explosion did not take place in the medical center.
It is the only clinic of its kind in the Coachella Valley. Authorities have warned the public to avoid the area.
Palm Springs resident Tamara Cash told The Desert Sun the explosion 'was so loud it shook me. All I could hear was alarms going off in different buildings.'
Dr. Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic where the explosion occurred, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that all of his staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the practice's office space, where it conducts consultations with patients, but left the IVF lab and all of the stored embryos there unharmed.
'I really have no clue what happened,' Abdallah said. 'Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.'
Nima Tabrizi, 37, of Santa Monica, said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
'The building just shook, and we go outside and there's massive cloud smoke,' Tabrizi said. 'Crazy explosion. It felt like a bomb went off ... We went up to the scene, and we saw human remains.'
Palm Springs is a city of roughly 45,000 people and has often been used as a vacation spot for the rich and famous, located about a hundred miles east of Los Angeles. The resort city is situated in the Coachella Valley within the Colorado Desert. The city's population triples between November and March as it has become a prominent retirement and snowbird destination. Most of the snowbirds have been Canadians, but some have started boycotting the city amid President Donald Trump's harsh policies and aggressive rhetoric against the neighbor to the north.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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