A person has been taken into custody after reportedly being connected to the main suspect in a vehicle bombing near a reproductive clinic in Palm Springs. Daniel Park, 32, is the suspect. The suspect was taken into detention overnight at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City and is accused of giving and trying to give material support to a terrorist. Park is scheduled to be sent to California to face charges after waiving his identification and probable cause hearings in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Authorities allege that Park shipped six packages containing more than 200 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used in homemade explosives, from Seattle to Bartkus in Twentynine Palms, California. Park also paid for an additional 90 pounds of ammonium nitrate that was shipped to Bartkus in the days leading up to the attack.
According to United States Attorney Bill Essayli, Park reportedly provided Guy Edward Bartkus with the components required to make the explosives, with the last shipment arriving just days prior to the assault.
How did law enforcement identify Daniel Park?
“According to information obtained by law enforcement, Park spent roughly two weeks in late January and early February of this year at [the primary suspect’s] home in 29 Palms, conducting experiments with him [in the suspect’s garage], where the FBI found numerous chemical precursors and lab equipment following the bombing,” Essayli said in a news conference.
According to the criminal complaint, Park was identified by authorities using a cellphone that was found at the crime site. Days before the incident, Park reportedly used an AI chatbot to look for information about putting together an explosive device, according to the lawsuit.
Four days after the attack, Park travelled to Poland, where he was deported back to the United States on May 30 after being apprehended by Polish officials. It was unclear to authorities if Park’s initial trip overseas was an effort to escape the nation. Authorities suspect the goods were shipped to Southern California before the assault after they found six shipments of explosive ingredients during a search of Park’s residence in Kent, Washington.
According to the Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi helped to get Park expelled and then arrested.
The perpetrator of the blast outside the American Reproductive Centres facility was identified as 25-year-old Bartkus last month. The explosion killed Bartkus and wounded four others. Bartkus is seen parked behind the building, taking drugs, and then setting off the explosive device, according to surveillance footage and internet posts.
What was the motive behind the clinic bombing?
Authorities claim that Park and Bartkus were inspired by a fringe “pro-mortalism” ideological movement, which considers human reproduction to be unethical and holds that death is preferable to life, and that they targeted the centre in an effort to kill human embryos kept on-site. The FBI has classified the bombing as an act of domestic terrorism while pointing to the suspects’ ideological motivation as the cause of the violence.
According to FBI Director Kash Patel, Park reportedly provided a lot of explosive precursors to the man who drove a vehicle bomb to a reproductive clinic in Palm Springs, an act that may have killed innocent people,
“The FBI collaborates with its partners to identify and prosecute individuals involved in domestic terrorism and other criminal activities.”
