Man linked to Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing dies in federal custody

Palm Springs bombing suspect dies in custody

Daniel Park, the alleged co-conspirator in the Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing, has died in custody.

LOS ANGELES - A Washington state man charged with providing chemicals used in the car bomb explosion outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic last month has died in federal custody just weeks after his arrest, prison officials announced Tuesday.

What we know:

Daniel Park, 32, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Despite life-saving measures, Park was taken to a local hospital where he died.

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The suspect will appear in federal court in Brooklyn before he is transferred to California.

What we don't know:

Park's cause of death is under investigation. No further details were released.

Daniel Park

The backstory:

Park was arrested on June 3 after he was extradited from Poland, where he fled four days after the attack. Park had been charged with providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

According to federal authorities, Park collaborated with the alleged bomber, Guy Edward Bartkus, alleging that he supplied chemicals used to make explosives and traveled to California to experiment with them in the bomber’s garage months before the attack.

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Three days before Park visited him in January, Bartkus asked an AI chat application about explosives, detonation velocity, diesel and gasoline mixtures, the complaint said. The discussion centered on how to create the most powerful blast.

Park spent years stocking up on ammonium nitrate, a chemical that can be used to make explosives, before shipping it to Bartkus and later visiting him in Twentynine Palms, California. He stayed for about two weeks earlier this year, and the two conducted bomb-making experiments in the detached garage of Bartkus’ family home, said Akil Davis, the FBI’s assistant director in charge.

The two men connected in fringe online forums over their shared beliefs against human procreation, authorities told the Associated Press. The blast gutted the fertility clinic and shattered the windows of nearby buildings, with officials calling the attack terrorism and possibly the largest bomb scene ever in Southern California. The clinic was closed, and no embryos were damaged.

Bartkus died in the May 17 explosion.