Palm Springs, CA – The suspect who allegedly detonated a car bomb in this resort city said in a prerecorded statement that he targeted an IVF clinic because “I’m angry that I exist” and “nobody got my consent to bring me here.”
Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, espoused a radical doctrine sometimes called anti-natalism or “efilism” – which in Bartkus’s words meant he was “anti-life.”
Bartkus died in the explosion, which took place around 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2025, outside the American Reproductive Center in the 1100 block of North Indian Canyon Drive.
Four bystanders were treated for injuries and released.
An AK-47 turned up near the burnt wreckage of the 2010 Ford Fusion that held the powerful bomb.
A joint task force comprised of the FBI, ATF, Palm Springs Police Department, and other authorities are investigating what type of bomb Bartkus used in the attack and whether he had help from any co-conspirators.
After reading an early report about the explosion, I grabbed my phone and notebook and headed to the scene.
A sandstorm was howling across the desert, which added to the eeriness of the incident.
As the day progressed, a crowd of reporters formed a few blocks from the site of the bombing.
I walked the streets snapping pictures, talking with officials, and interviewing witnesses.
At a press conference I attended on Saturday afternoon, Akil Davis, FBI assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, said the bombing was “an intentional act of terrorism.”
The explosion partially collapsed the fertility clinic, shattered windows of surrounding buildings, and scattered debris over a wide area, leaving the community in a state of shock.
“Terrorism came knocking on the door of Palm Springs,” said Police Chief Andy Mills at Saturday’s press conference, calling the aftermath a “massive crime scene.”
Authorities later determined that Bartkus set up a camera on a tripod outside the clinic and attempted to livestream the attack.
Prior to the bombing, Bartkus posted written and audio statements online that some commentators are calling a “manifesto.”
Ronnie Haas, who lives with his wife Phyllis Haas a few blocks from the fertility clinic, told me that the blast shook their home.
After opening the front door and seeing the smoke, the couple slammed the door, ran downstairs, and took shelter.
“You just didn’t know what was going to come next,” said Ronnie. Phyllis added that the attack left her feeling “super traumatized.”
On Saturday evening, the joint task force executed a search warrant at Bartkus’s residence in Twentynine Palms, about an hour’s drive northeast of Palm Springs.
As a precaution, authorities evacuated a several-block area while the search for evidence in the horrific attack took place.
In a statement posted on the fertility clinic’s Facebook page, the director, Dr. Maher Abdallah, said that “no members of the ARC team were harmed, and our lab – including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials – remains fully secure and undamaged.”
Stephen Layne, a guest at a boutique hotel near the clinic, told me that he was in his room when he heard a boom and the building began to shake.
“We all ran out and saw smoke billowing,” he said. The blast broke some of the hotel’s windows.
Layne said that the bombing triggered memories of the 9/11 attacks when he was living in New York.
“I dropped off my mom that morning at the World Trade Center,” he recalled. “She came home covered in dust, but she survived.”
