California Twenty-One Palm Trees – Authorities are investigating the Palm Springs bomb suspects expressed online months before Saturday’s attack at a fertility clinic.
The FBI confirmed that the declaration and other contents are being reviewed to determine whether they are the work of Guy Edward Bartkus, a 25-year-old “with nihilistic conception” who believed they were killed in the explosion. One of the reasons for the interest of the manifesto is that its authors explicitly threatened attacks on fertility clinics.
Bartkus is suspected of detonating a large number of bombs outside the American reproductive center, causing extensive damage.
What do we know about Bartkus?
Bartkus lives in Twentynine Palms, home to the Marine Air Ground Combat Center and is touted as the world's largest Marine Corps training base.
Marine Corps spokesman Yvonne Carlock said Battercus was not a Marine. The Times has not yet been able to verify whether Batkus has any other affiliation with the base, which may allow him to access the explosives.
When authorities cleaned up his neighborhood this weekend for an extensive search, neighbors interviewed by The Times said they did not know him.
Victoria and Austin Shupe, an artist who moved from Century City to Twenty-Tenth Palm a year ago, said that when the suspect's name was made public, there was a strange thing: they had never seen him or talked to others.
“Twentynine Palms is a very small town,” said Austin Shupe, who owns a music studio called Yucca Man Records in the area. “It’s the kind of town you go to the grocery store and you see everyone.”
The FBI released a photo of Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, the main suspect in the bombing of the Palm Springs fertility clinic, and four people were injured on Saturday.
(FBI)
What about the explosives used?
The FBI described the functionality of the Palm Springs Blast, enough to damage buildings in several blocks, which was probably “the biggest bombing scene we encountered in Southern California,” eclipsed, with a 2018 SPA bombing exploded at Aliso Viejo in 2018.
Authorities are still trying to determine what types of explosives are used and how to obtain them.
The explosion left a car behind the clinic and killed a man temporarily identified as Bartkus. Officials are not sure if he intends to commit suicide.
Law enforcement sources told The Times that the bomber used a large amount of explosives – the bomb shredded his remains.
“We believe he is the subject of the vehicle being discovered by a vehicle,” said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office. Davis said investigators believe the suspect is trying to livestream the attack.
The clinic released a photo of the consequences of the explosion, showing the building's roofs in trouble, debris flowing into the streets and smoke rolling from the inside.
Tim Prendergast, co-owner of the Christopher Anthony Ltd. gallery, is about two blocks from the scene of the explosion in his business. He first felt the shock wave hit the building and thought it was the beginning of the earthquake.
“But, of course, once I felt the explosion, I knew it wasn't an earthquake,” he said.
Prendergast ran down the street to the scene of the explosion and arrived there a few minutes after a cloud of smoke. He saw a car on fire and the medical building was engulfed in flames. There are multiple people in the area. Some people bleed but are able to stand.
Then he encountered a body part on the street.
What do we know about Bartkus’ beliefs and possible motivations?
An online website without a name, but appeared in the case of bombing related, listed “war against loved ones” and said it would target fertilization clinics.
The website begins by saying: “Here you can download the recorded stream of my suicide and bombing the IVF clinic, but such files do not exist. The author cited include
- Abolitionist Vegetarians: Human objections to all animal use.
- Negative Utilitarianism: We should take action to maximize pain rather than maximize the idea of minimizing pleasure in the world.
- Biologicalism: The marginal philosophy stands that it is best to make sentient beings die as soon as possible to prevent future suffering.
Davis, who declined to confirm whether the declaration was written by the suspect, said his team was “tracking possible declarations as part of the investigation we are doing.”
In the manifesto, the author condemns those who bring human life into the world and announces the ultimate goal of “disinfecting this disease of life.”
The site comes with a 30-minute audio file marked “Pre”, which begins with the speaker who said “Why did I decide to bomb an IVF building or clinic”.
“Basically, it's just me being angry at my presence and you know, no one agrees to bring me here,” the speaker said.
The author carries a manifesto on the website and hides in the basic regulations of the website, citing the death of a person who recently claimed to be a close friend “Sophie”. References matched the April 20 death of a Washington state woman who allegedly was shot dead on her request.
The Times reviewed law enforcement announcement said the Palm Springs bomb suspect seemed to have become even more frustrated after the recent death of a female friend.
What does the experts say?
Brian Levin, founder of the Center for Hate and Extremism Studies, said in a professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino, the author of the manifesto appears to be part of a radically growing movement of estranged lonely actors on obscure internet sites.
“He is with a specific anti-primitive movement that condemns violence,” Levine said. “Nevertheless, his so-called unrealistic, trait-like 'political' statement paints a very different picture – a desperately unstable young man whose suicide despair plunges him into a cruel death of self-expenditure, which proves justified by the obscure embrace of relatives who distorted by an individual against ideology.”
What is the next step in the case?
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is working with local and federal authorities to chase leadership to determine the source of explosives. On Sunday, they called on the public to seek to track Bartkus's actions before the explosion.
Sources said at least one gun was recovered from the scene, but investigations into the area were challenged by the amount of damage caused by the bomb.
Times worker Melody Gutierrez, Julia Wick and Rebecca Plevin contributed to the report.
