‘The Bomber Had Help’: Accomplice Arrested in Palm Springs Bombing

This post was originally published on this site

A suspected accomplice in the bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, CA last month was arrested yesterday at Kennedy airport in New York.

A man was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City overnight in connection with the car bombing last month outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic, two people familiar with the matter said.

The man was identified as Daniel Park of Washington state, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The FBI and Port Authority police arrested Park on a federal warrant out of California, two sources said. He is expected to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn federal court.

Park fled to Poland days after the bombing and was arrested there at the request of US authorities. He spent two weeks in jail there until AG Pam Bondi made a recent trip to Poland.

Bondi was in Poland this week for an international meeting of attorneys general. Poland is where alleged bomb-making suspect Daniel Jongyon Park had fled to four days after the attack on the Palm Springs clinic.

Park had been detained two weeks in Poland and was later ordered removed from that country. Bondi helped arrange that.

So once Park has his court appearance today in New York, he should be heading back to California to face charges for the bombing. Authorities believe he purchased the materials that bomber Guy Bartkus used in the clinic attack. He also apparently helped Bartkus plan the attack.

Daniel Park of Washington state was charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist, U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli announced during a news conference.

Park is accused of shipping approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate to the bomber, who was identified by officials as 25-year-old Guy Bartkus, Essayli said. Ammonium nitrate is commonly used as a precursor to construct homemade bombs. The U.S. attorney said Park shares Bartkus’ extremist beliefs…

Park paid for an additional 90 pounds of ammonium nitrate that was shipped to Bartkus in the days leading up to the May 17 bombing, Essayli said.

Park spent approximately two weeks visiting Bartkus’ residence in Twentynine Palms, California, in late January and early February and ran “experiments” in his garage, Essayli said.

As I described here, Bartkus was part of a fringe ideology called pro-Mortalism or Efiliism (life spelled backwards) which essentially believes all life on earth should go extinct. Bartkus’ goal in bombing to the fertility clinic was to make a point about his view that no one can ever consent to being born and therefore having children is immoral. Here’s a bit of what he wrote, suggesting he wanted to start a war against pro-lifers.

The end goal is for the truth (Efilism) to win, and once it does, we can finally begin the process of sterilizing this planet of the disease of life. Life can only continue as long as people hold the delusional belief that it is not a zero sum game causing senseless torture, and messes it can never, or only partially, clean up. I think we need a war against pro-lifers. It is clear at this point that these people aren’t only stupid, they simply do not care about the harm they are perpetuating by being willing agents for a DNA molecule. This should not be seen as tolerable to any intelligent and caring person. Don’t be fooled by the ones who play stupid and pretend they don’t understand these simple truths. It’s just their way of playing with you and saying “fuck you, we don’t care”.

Bartkus was the only person killed in the bombing. It appears he wanted to die after his best friend, who shared his views, killed herself by convincing her boyfriend to shoot her when she was asleep. Five other people were injured in the bombing but none of the frozen embryos at the clinic were harmed.

The FBI held a press conference today to announce the arrest. During the press conference the US attorney outlined the case against him.