Latest news with #Bartkus'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Police charge man with providing fertility clinic bombing materials
June 4 (UPI) -- Federal officials have arrested a Washington man they said provided "significant quantities" of explosive materials to the man who attacked a California fertility clinic in a suicide bombing. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Central District of California charged Daniel Jongyon Park of Kent, Wash., with providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. Officials arrested him Tuesday night shortly after he arrived on a flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Park had been deported from Poland where he traveled to in the days after the May 17 attack. Police said Edward Bartkus of Twentynine Palms, Calif., attacked the American Reproductive Centers location in Palm Springs, Calif., using a vehicle-borne bomb. He was allegedly motivated by his anti-natalist views that people shouldn't be brought into the world without their consent. The Justice Department said Park shared Bartkus' views and bought and shipped more than 200 pounds of ammonium nitrate to Bartkus' home. Park also joined Bartkus in Twentynine Palms, where the two allegedly conducted experiments on how to build explosives using the chemicals. Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked the Polish government for assisting in returning Park to the United States to face charges. "Bringing chaos and violence to a facility that exists to help women and mothers is a particularly cruel, disgusting crime that strikes at the very heart of our shared humanity," she said.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Man allegedly linked to Palm Springs bombing arrested at JFK airport
Federal authorities have arrested a man at JFK airport in New York who allegedly provided bomb parts to the suspect responsible for last month's attack on a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The individual, who sources said was detained around 5 p.m. last night at the airport, will appear in a Brooklyn federal courtroom on Wednesday afternoon on charges related to the Palm Springs attack. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the pending case. The sources identified the man arrested Daniel Park, 32 of Kent, Washington. The U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and the city's FBI's top official are expected to announce the developments in the case at a 9 a.m. press conference Wednesday. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in L.A., previously said his office and the FBI would lead the investigation into the incident, which has been labeled domestic terrorism. Read more: Palm Springs clinic bomber had access to large quantity of chemical products, FBI says Guy Edward Bartkus, the primary suspect, is believed to have detonated a bomb at American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs on May 17, killing himself and injuring at least four people. The FBI described the Palm Springs blast — powerful enough to damage buildings several blocks away — as 'probably the largest bombing scene that we've had in Southern California,' eclipsing the 2018 bombing of a day spa in Aliso Viejo. Law enforcement sources told The Times that the bomber used a very large amount of explosives — so much that the bomb shredded his remains. Investigators have been examining how Bartkus acquired the massive cache of bomb materials. Law enforcement sources said that authorities recovered explosive materials from Bartkus' home and that he was skilled in assembling explosive devices. He also was a longtime rocket builder. FBI case investigators, as well as law enforcement sources, characterize Bartkus, 25, as having 'antinatalist' ideations, a conclusion drawn from social media posts and other online materials authorities have linked to him. In those public posts, he argued that procreation without the consent of the unborn is unethical and unjustifiable in a world struggling with environmental harm, violence and overpopulation. The online trail that authorities are scouring to glean some insight into Bartkus' motives include a website that appears dedicated to the Palm Springs bombing. It features a 30-minute recording that site data indicates was uploaded at the time of the explosion, and promises a video — never posted — of the blast. There are also YouTube videos under a web alias associated with Bartkus, and threads on Reddit and a suicide forum. In those, Bartkus voiced despondence over the death of a 'best friend,' Sophie, a woman who lived in Washington who ran multiple social media sites espousing radical feminism, veganism and intentional suicide. She died in April, allegedly shot in the head by her partner. That man told police he was acting at her request. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
USA Today
21-05-2025
- USA Today
Palm Springs bombing suspect talked about explosives on YouTube, authorities say
PALM SPRINGS, CA — Several days after the fatal explosion near a Southern California fertility clinic, a clearer picture has begun to emerge of the suspect and the motivation for the attack. Authorities are investigating whether anyone else knew the suspect's plans beforehand. The FBI has named Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of Twentynine Palms, California, who died in the Palm Springs blast, as the suspect in the bombing. The FBI confirmed Bartkus' DNA matched that of the lone casualty of the May 17 blast. Investigators believe Bartkus acted alone, though his online communication is being scrutinized for the possibility that others knew of the attack in advance. Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills told The Desert Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network, that Bartkus discussed explosives online as far back as 2022. "I don't know that he had any help. I do know that he was discussing this in chat rooms and on YouTube channels, he was experimenting with different explosives," Mills said. "There was a conversation in the dark web, if you will, over this kind of thing." Mills noted that the FBI continued to investigate Bartkus' online activity and said determining whether anyone else knew of the plans and should face criminal charges would be up to the federal investigators. "That's an FBI responsibility. They will get to the bottom of that, I am fully confident," Mills affirmed. "There may be nobody that's charged, but we will turn over every rock to make sure." 'Subject had nihilistic ideations' Akil Davis, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI field office, called the incident "one of the largest bombing investigations we've had in Southern California." Davis compared the blast to the scale of the Aliso Viejo bombing in Orange County in 2018. Davis said that investigators believe Bartkus targeted the fertility clinic based on his online posts and an apparent "manifesto" they were reviewing. "The subject had nihilistic ideations, and this was a targeted attack against the IVF facility," Davis said. "We are treating this as an intentional act of terrorism." The FBI has confirmed it is looking into eyewitness reports that a tripod was found at the site of the bombing that appeared to be intended to livestream the incident. Bartkus' father, Richard Bartkus, described a childhood incident when Guy Bartkus played with matches and burned their house down. A YouTube account that has been deactivated and appears to have belonged to Guy Bartkus shows videos of experimentation with explosives going back six years, according to an archived version of the website. The FBI has not confirmed any of Bartkus' alleged online accounts, and a spokesperson for the bureau declined to comment on the suspect's online activity when asked by The Desert Sun. 'It's a very heavy piece of equipment' Though some questions have been answered, the FBI has still not revealed the type of explosive material that was used or precisely how much explosive power was involved. Dwain Wall, a Palm Springs resident who was one of the first people on the scene after the explosion, found a propane torch in the parking lot of a nearby Denny's that he turned over to the FBI as evidence. "It's a very heavy piece of equipment," he told The Desert Sun. "It was solid. All it had was a very tiny, almost like gun barrel, a solid gun barrel, but a very tiny opening that the gas is forced through." The logo on the device identified it as a Bernzomatic Trigger Start Torch, a consumer product available on Amazon for $47. When asked on May 18 about whether the torch could have been used to ignite the bomb, Davis did not directly comment. "We are receiving hundreds of tips per day and we are following all of them," he said. "As you guys can imagine, how large this scene is, there is evidence strewn all about in a 360-degree perimeter, several hundred feet in diameter.' The FBI appeared to be wrapping up its investigation of the crime scene in Palm Springs, a tony resort city located in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. The city is more than 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Palm Springs police have said there is no ongoing threat to the community. Authorities are investigating Bartkus' whereabouts on the morning of the attack. The FBI said Bartkus drove a 2010 silver Ford Fusion sedan with the license plate number 8HWS848. Anyone with information about the suspect or attack can contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324 (800-CALL-FBI), or through the website, Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@ Contributing: Paul Albani-Burgio, Sam Morgen, Jennifer Cortez, Kate Franco, Robert Anglen, and Christopher Damien, USA TODAY Network
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
A fire, a fascination with explosives and family discord marked path to clinic bombing
Long before Guy Bartkus' personal war against life ended with him the sole suspect in blowing up a fertility clinic, and himself, there was a fascination with pyrotechnics. In a stream of videos posted to a YouTube site that law enforcement officials say they believe belonged to Bartkus, only a single one fell in the genre of modern male youth: a war games video game clip. The rest run through solitary experiments in chemistry, physics and explosives: A hydrogen balloon is set on fire. M-80s explode in the desert sand. A bucket of radioactive uranium ore sets a Geiger counter wailing. In one video, a small tube of a "melt cast" explosive punches a deep socket into a heavy metal bar, detonating so loudly the sound rockets from one bouldered slope to another. "Holy s—!," a young man laughs in amazed delight. It is the same voice captured on a 30-minute audio manifesto that investigators tie to Bartkus, in which he attempts to explain his animosity toward those who conceive children and seemingly his decision to attack a Palm Springs fertility clinic. On Saturday morning, a bomb was detonated at American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs, destroying much of the building, injuring four people and killing the bomber. Bartkus is the sole suspect in the bombing, which the FBI has labeled as domestic terrorism. DNA tests of body parts found at the scene show Bartkus was killed in the blast. The FBI case investigators, as well as law enforcement sources, characterize the 25-year-old as having "nihilistic ideations," conclusions drawn from social media postings they link to Bartkus. In those public postings, Bartkus argued that procreation without consent of the unborn is unethical and unjustifiable in a world struggling with environmental harm, violence and overpopulation. Law enforcement sources told The Times that they are also looking into whether childhood trauma laid the foundation for his beliefs. Bartkus' father, who has not seen him in over a decade, told The Times he was unaware of his son's extremist views. "It's like, this is not my son,' said Richard Bartkus, 75. 'I haven't seen him in 10 years, but I still know his heart. His heart was more for helping people, not destroying people." The full picture of Guy Edward Bartkus is far from complete. But an interview with his father, as well as legal filings in San Bernardino County Superior Court, offer a window into the discord that shadowed Bartkus' upbringing. His childhood was touched by divorce, allegations of abuse and a keen early interest in explosives. Little has been made public about his adult life — other than he held a string of short-term jobs, working on an electronics assembly line and as a school bus monitor for special needs children. Neither his mother or sister, with whom he reportedly lived in Twentynine Palms, could be reached for comment. The online trail that authorities are scouring to glean some insight into Bartkus' motives include a website that appears dedicated to the Palm Springs bombing. It features a 30-minute recording that site data indicates was uploaded at the time of the explosion, and promises a video — never posted — of the blast. There are also YouTube videos under a web alias associated with Bartkus, and threads on Reddit and a suicide forum. In those, Bartkus voiced despondence over the death of a "best friend," Sophie, a woman who lived in Washington who ran multiple social media sites espousing radical feminism, veganism and intentional suicide. She died in April, allegedly shot in the head by her partner. That man told police he was acting at her request. In the end, grief may have played a part in Bartkus' self-destruction. "I won't allow my brain to get over you, Sophie," the bomber wrote in the hidden comment code of his website. "There's no reason to anyways..." Born in Waterbury, Conn., Bartkus moved to California with his family when he was about 1 1/2, according to his father. After settling in North Palm Springs, the family moved to Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley. He was a curious boy who liked to experiment, the father said. He told of returning to their Yucca Valley rental home one day and seeing his 9-year-old son hide something under the shed and hurry indoors. He assumed his son was just racing to beat him to the computer. "But he had a little fire going,' said Richard Bartkus. 'He pushed it under the shed, thinking that the sand would put it out. But it didn't, it caught the shed on fire. And when the shed caught on fire, it spread to the house and burned the house down.' He said his son took it hard. 'He felt really bad,' said Richard Bartkus. "For a while, he kind of shied away from everybody." In his teens, Guy Bartkus ramped up his experiments with stink bombs and rockets. His father said he became stricter with his son, worried that the fascination with explosives was getting out of hand. "First of all, you start building small explosives," he said. "Next thing you know, you want to go a little bigger. You're making those little poppers. Next, you want to get a little louder. You start making these little rockets. But they only go so far. ... Now you're doing more of a homemade gunpowder. Before you know it, you just gone too far." Richard Bartkus said he and Guy's mother, Dianne Bartkus, disagreed on how to handle their son. Their family life appeared to become increasingly fractious. In August 2012, Dianne Bartkus moved out of the family's home with their two children. Soon after, she sought a restraining order against Richard Bartkus. In court documents, she described feeling 'scared of his irrational behavior' and 'threatened' by her husband. In one instance, she alleged in court filings, Richard Bartkus visited her at the smoke shop where she worked and brought a sniper rifle. 'If I catch you with another man within the next three months, I'll shoot him 10 times in the head or between the eyes,' he allegedly said. 'His random behavior scares me and I am worried for the safety of my children,' she said in court documents. The court files also include Richard Bartkus' rebuttals of her allegations. He denied mistreating her or the children — 'unless you call my yelling at them for the cuss words they use and nasty shows and music they watch and listen to abuse. I call it being a good parent.' The court granted Dianne Bartkus' request for a restraining order, but gave the father visitation rights. Guy was 13 at the time, and his sister, Regina, was 14. In November 2013, Dianne Bartkus filed for divorce. Richard Bartkus said he had not seen his son since a visit in 2014. He'd had a heart attack, he said, and his ex-wife and children came to feed him and drop off medication. In a 2015 request to amend the restraining order to include the children, Dianne Bartkus said there had been 'few visitations' between the father and children due to 'emotional/verbal abuse.' She alleged Richard Bartkus had mocked his son's sexuality — a charge he denied to The Times, saying his wife made up stories to make him look bad. Still, in 2021, an Instagram account with the name Richard Bartkus publicly ridiculed Guy Bartkus for burning down the family home. "Guy Bartkus decided he was smart enough to play with stick matches outside and burned down the whole house and everything in it, and now he thinks he is so smart and so perfect and never made any mistakes in life.' Richard Bartkus told The Times he was responding to another post from his son, now deleted, accusing him of being too hard on his son. "He was trying to come off like everything was my fault," he said. "I tried to explain to him the reasons why I got so strict on him. He burned my house down! Me and my wife, my kids are in the house. You destroy all of our property by burning the whole house down. I'm gonna come down strict on you!" Ultimately, Richard Bartkus said his son was "a good kid," smart and inquisitive, who built his own computers at an early age. In high school, he said, his son got Cs and Ds, until he switched to the district's independent study program. With one-on-one attention, he said, his son turned into an A and B student. His son, he said, ended up graduating with honors from Yucca Valley High School. Richard Bartkus did not attend the graduation. In 2019, at 18, Guy Bartkus began to post videos of his desert explosions on a YouTube channel called "IndictEvolution." The videos have since been taken down, but The Times was able to access them through an archival site. Law enforcement sources confirmed they have been linked to Bartkus. Early on, the videos fall into the realm of hobbyist experiments: He exploded a small hydrogen balloon; he concocted glass beakers of acids. But by the time Bartkus was 24, his videos show him playing with some of the most dangerous explosives accessible to amateur hobbyists. He demonstrates detonation of erythritol tetranitrate (ETN), characterized in scientific literature as nearly as powerful as plastic explosives used by the military. That year, the username on a gaming platform tied to Bartkus' email address was "Pyrotechnical." In that same period, Bartkus' rhetoric on alternative social media sites was dark. "I would not acknowledge reproduction as a human right, but instead as a form of rape," IndictEvolution wrote on in July 2023. "I am also not bothered by infanticide as long as it is done humanely..." In early May, Bartkus engaged with a suicide discussion site, presenting data from his tests on ingesting weak doses of sodium nitrite or seeking to generate carbon monoxide within a car, alongside graphs and charts. "I'm glad I'm an extremist," he wrote. "Makes me WAY less tethered to this turd of a planet." He volunteered that he wanted to kill himself by strapping an explosive to his head, setting the timer for one hour and drugging himself to sleep. He said he lacked access to any drug stronger than codeine. Available explosives were not the problem. Then on Thursday night, he reached out to the forum again. He said he planned to kill himself in his car, with a chemical reaction that would produce carbon monoxide, along with "some extra drama that I probably should not say haha." Times staff writers Libor Jany and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
20-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
A fire, a fascination with explosives and family discord marked path to clinic bombing
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Long before Guy Bartkus' personal war against life ended with him the sole suspect in blowing up a fertility clinic, and himself, there was a fascination with pyrotechnics. In a stream of videos posted to a YouTube site that law enforcement officials say they believe belonged to Bartkus, only a single one fell in the genre of modern male youth: a war games video game clip. The rest run through solitary experiments in chemistry, physics and explosives: A hydrogen balloon is set on fire. M-80s explode in the desert sand. A bucket of radioactive uranium ore sets a Geiger counter wailing. In one video, a small tube of a 'melt cast' explosive punches a deep socket into a heavy metal bar, detonating so loudly the sound rockets from one bouldered slope to another. 'Holy s—!,' a young man laughs in amazed delight. It is the same voice captured on a 30-minute audio manifesto that investigators tie to Bartkus, in which he attempts to explain his animosity toward those who conceive children and seemingly his decision to attack a Palm Springs fertility clinic. On Saturday morning, a bomb was detonated at American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs, destroying much of the building, injuring four people, and killing the bomber. Bartkus is the sole suspect in the bombing, which the FBI has labeled as domestic terrorism. DNA tests of body parts found at the scene show Bartkus was killed in the blast. The FBI case investigators, as well as law enforcement sources, characterize the 25-year-old as having 'nihilistic ideations,' conclusions drawn from social media postings they link to Bartkus. In those public postings, Bartkus argued that procreation without consent of the unborn is unethical and unjustifiable in a world struggling with environmental harm, violence and overpopulation. Law enforcement sources told The Times that they are also looking into whether childhood trauma laid the foundation for his beliefs. Bartkus' father, who has not seen him in over a decade, told The Times he was unaware of his son's extremist views. 'It's like, this is not my son,' said Richard Bartkus, 75. 'I haven't seen him in 10 years, but I still know his heart. His heart was more for helping people, not destroying people.' The full picture of Guy Edward Bartkus is far from complete. But an interview with his father, as well as legal filings in San Bernardino County Superior Court, offer a window into the discord that shadowed Bartkus' upbringing. His childhood was touched by divorce, allegations of abuse and a keen early interest in explosives. Little has been made public about his adult life — other than he held a string of short-term jobs, working on an electronics assembly line and as a school bus monitor for special needs children. Neither his mother or sister, with whom he reportedly lived in Twentynine Palms, could be reached for comment. The online trail that authorities are scouring to glean some insight into Bartkus' motives include a website that appears dedicated to the Palm Springs bombing. It includes a 30-minute recording that site data indicates was uploaded at the time of the explosion, and promises a video — never posted — of the blast. There are also YouTube videos under a web alias associated with Bartkus, and threads on Reddit and a suicide forum. In those, Bartkus voiced despondence over the death of a 'best friend,' Sophie, a woman who lived in Washington who ran multiple social media sites espousing radical feminism, veganism and intentional suicide. She died in April, allegedly shot in the head by her partner. That man told police he was acting at her request. In the end, grief may have played a part in Bartkus' self-destruction. 'I won't allow my brain to get over you, Sophie,' the bomber wrote in the hidden comment code of his website. 'There's no reason to anyways...' Born in Waterbury, Conn., Bartkus moved to California with his family when he was about 1 1/2, according to his father. After settling in North Palm Springs, the family moved to Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley. He was a curious boy who liked to experiment, the father said. He told of returning to their Yucca Valley rental home one day and seeing his 9-year-old son hide something under the shed and hurry indoors. He assumed his son was just racing to beat him to the computer. 'But he had a little fire going,' said Richard Bartkus. 'He pushed it under the shed, thinking that the sand would put it out. But it didn't, it caught the shed on fire. And when the shed caught on fire, it spread to the house and burned the house down.' Bartkus said his son took it hard. 'He felt really bad,' said Richard Bartkus. 'For a while, he kind of shied away from everybody.' In his teens, Guy Bartkus ramped up his experiments with stink bombs and rockets. His father said he became stricter with his son, worried that the fascination with explosives was getting out of hand. 'First of all, you start building small explosives,' he said. 'Next thing you know, you want to go a little bigger. You're making those little poppers. Next, you want to get a little louder. You start making these little rockets. But they only go so far. ... Now you're doing more of a homemade gunpowder. Before you know it, you just gone too far.' Richard Bartkus said he and Guy's mother, Dianne Bartkus, disagreed on how to handle their son. Their family life appeared to become increasingly fractious. In August 2012, Dianne Bartkus moved out of the family's home with their two children. Soon after, she sought a restraining order against Richard Bartkus. In court documents, she described feeling 'scared of his irrational behavior' and 'threatened' by her husband. In one instance, she alleged in court filings, Richard Bartkus visited her at the smoke shop where she worked and brought a sniper rifle. 'If I catch you with another man within the next three months, I'll shoot him 10 times in the head or between the eyes,' he allegedly said. 'His random behavior scares me and I am worried for the safety of my children,' she said in court documents. The court files also include Richard Bartkus' rebuttals of her allegations. He denied mistreating her or the children — 'unless you call my yelling at them for the cuss words they use and nasty shows and music they watch and listen to abuse. I call it being a good parent.' The court granted Dianne Bartkus' request for a restraining order, but gave the father visitation rights. Guy was 13 at the time, and his sister, Regina, was 14. In November 2013, Dianne Bartkus filed for divorce. Richard Bartkus said he had not seen his son since a visit in 2014. He'd had a heart attack, he said, and his ex-wife and children came to feed him and drop off medication. In a 2015 request to amend the restraining order to include the children, she said there had been 'few visitations' between the father and children due to 'emotional/verbal abuse.' She alleged Richard Bartkus had mocked his son's sexuality — a charge he denied to The Times, saying his wife made up stories to make him look bad. Still, in 2021, an Instagram account with the name Richard Bartkus publicly ridiculed Guy Bartkus for burning down the family home. 'Guy Bartkus decided he was smart enough to play with stick matches outside and burned down the whole house and everything in it, and now he thinks he is so smart and so perfect and never made any mistakes in life.' Richard Bartkus told The Times he was responding to another post from his son, now deleted, accusing him of being too hard on him. 'He was trying to come off like everything was my fault,' he said. 'I tried to explain to him the reasons why I got so strict on him. He burned my house down! Me and my wife, my kids are in the house. You destroy all of our property by burning the whole house down. I'm gonna come down strict on you!' Ultimately, Richard Bartkus said his son was 'a good kid,' smart and inquisitive, who built his own computers at an early age. In high school, he said, his son got Cs and Ds, until he switched to the district's independent study program. With one-on-one attention, he said, he turned into an A and B student. His son, he said, ended up graduating with honors from Yucca Valley High School. Richard Bartkus did not attend the graduation. In 2019, at 18, Guy Bartkus began to post videos of his desert explosions on a YouTube channel called 'IndictEvolution.' The videos have since been taken down, but The Times was able to access them through an archival site. Law enforcement sources confirmed they have been linked to Bartkus. Early on, the videos fall into the realm of hobbyist experiments: He exploded a small hydrogen balloon; he concocted a glass beakers of acids. But by the time Bartkus was 24, his videos show him playing with some of the most dangerous explosives accessible to amateur hobbyists. He demonstrates detonation of erythritol tetranitrate (ETN), characterized in scientific literature as nearly as powerful as plastic explosives used by the military. That year, the username on a gaming platform tied to Bartkus' email address was 'Pyrotechnical.' In that same period, Bartkus' rhetoric on alternative social media sites was dark. 'I would not acknowledge reproduction as a human right, but instead as a form of rape,' IndictEvolution wrote on in July 2023. 'I am also not bothered by infanticide as long as it is done humanely...' In early May, Bartkus engaged with a suicide discussion site, presenting data from his tests on ingesting weak doses of sodium nitrite or seeking to generate carbon monoxide within a car, alongside graphs and charts. 'I'm glad I'm an extremist,' he wrote. 'Makes me WAY less tethered to this turd of a planet.' He volunteered that he wanted to kill himself by strapping an explosive to his head, setting the timer for one hour and drugging himself to sleep. He said he lacked access to any drug stronger than codeine. Available explosives were not the problem. Then on Thursday night, he reached out to the forum again. He said he planned to kill himself in his car, with a chemical reaction that would produce carbon monoxide, along with 'some extra drama that I probably should not say haha.' Times staff writers Libor Jany and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
