(Corrects fifth paragraph to show the fertilizer allegedly secured by the suspect was ammonium nitrate) By Joseph Ax and Helen Coster NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal authorities arrested a suspect overnight in connection with last month’s deadly bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, according to law enforcement officials on Wednesday. The suspect, Daniel […]
U.S.
Suspect arrested in connection with deadly California fertility clinic bombing
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(Corrects fifth paragraph to show the fertilizer allegedly secured by the suspect was ammonium nitrate)
By Joseph Ax and Helen Coster
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal authorities arrested a suspect overnight in connection with last month’s deadly bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, according to law enforcement officials on Wednesday.
The suspect, Daniel Park, a 32-year-old man from Washington state, was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the officials said.
At his appearance on Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn, Park consented to be detained and transferred to California in the custody of the U.S. Marshals service, according to a spokesperson for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office.
Park had been detained in Poland and deported by Polish authorities. U.S. officials were not clear why he had traveled to Poland and said he was not in southern California on the day of the bombing.
Officials alleged that Park secured 270 pounds of ammonium nitrate for Guy Bartkus, the primary suspect in the bombing. Ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, is also a material commonly used to construct homemade bombs, they said.
The officials charged Park with providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist. Bartkus, 25, died in the blast.
A bomb detonated on May 17 in or near a car parked outside the fertility clinic, operated by American Reproductive Center. In addition to the death of the primary suspect, several other people were injured, according to authorities.
Bartkus had “nihilistic ideations,” FBI officials said at the time, adding that they were investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. On Wednesday law enforcement officials said that Park shared those views and had posted them on Internet forums.
Wednesday’s arrest was first reported by NBC News.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty, Marguerita Choy and Alistair Bell)