What investigators know about the Palm Springs bombing suspect

A man in protective vest walks near people in uniform behind an area cordoned off with yellow tape

May 21, 2025 6:30 AM PT

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It has been four days since the bombing of the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic in Palm Springs left one dead and at least four injured in what the FBI called “an intentional act of terrorism.”

DNA tests of body parts found outside the facility showed that the suspect, 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, was killed in the blast.

Law enforcement sources told The Times they are looking into videos, audio files and other online postings attributed to Bartkus as they try to determine the motive for the attack. They also are exploring whether incidents in Bartkus’ childhood laid the foundation for later beliefs in “antinatalism,” an idea that procreation is wrong in an overpopulated world struggling with environmental harm and violence.

Here’s what we know about the investigation:

Videos show the suspect was fascinated with explosions

YouTube videos probably posted by the suspect depict M-80s exploding in desert sand, a hydrogen balloon being set ablaze, and a bucket of radioactive uranium ore that causes a radiation detection device to wail.

The voice in the videos, my colleagues have reported, is the same as the one captured on a 30-minute audio file that authorities believe was made by Bartkus.

In the audio file, the speaker gives the following reason for bombing a fertility clinic: “Basically, it just comes down to I’m angry that I exist and that, you know, nobody got my consent to bring me here.”

The suspect’s father told us his son had a childhood obsession with pyrotechnics

In an interview with my colleague Jenny Jarvie, the suspect’s estranged father, Richard Bartkus, said the boy, then 9, set his family’s Yucca Valley home on fire.

In 2008, the elder Bartkus said, his son took some matches outside his family’s rented house to conduct what he called an experiment. The boy burned down the house, a shed, and all of the family’s possessions, Richard Bartkus said.

“It destroyed the whole house,” he said. “So he didn’t feel good about that at all.”

But his son, Richard Bartkus said, continued to ramp up his experiments with explosives — making rockets, stink bombs and smoke bombs. The elder Bartkus said he became more strict with his son, worrying that his experimentation with increasingly powerful explosives was getting out of hand.

Court records offer a window into the family discord that marked the suspect’s youth, including his parents’ messy divorce and allegations of verbal and emotional abuse.

After Bartkus’ mother moved out of the family home with her son and daughter in 2012, records show, she obtained a restraining order against Richard Bartkus, saying she felt “scared of his irrational behavior.”

Richard Bartkus disputed many of her allegations.

Investigators don’t yet know where Bartkus obtained a massive cache of explosives

The investigation also is focused on how Bartkus obtained a massive cache of explosives, some of which were found in a house in rural Twentynine Palms that he shared with his mother.

My colleagues have reported that investigators are likely to look into Bartkus’ proximity to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, which is touted as the largest Marine training base in the world.

Capt. Johnathon Huizar, a spokesman for the combat center, said there is no record of Bartkus — who was not a Marine — entering the base. Huizar would not comment on whether there have been any recent instances of lost or stolen explosives.

In 2021, 10 pounds of plastic explosives vanished from the base during a training exercise and were suspected to have been stolen, according to news reports. The material was ultimately recovered, according to news reports, but the military has released little information about the episode.

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Staying in

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And finally ... your photo of the day

A white-and-blue boxlike dwelling sits on a hillside

Today’s great photo is from contributor Amanda Villegas, of a hillside property in Silver Lake that features an 1,150-square-foot ADU below the existing house and which cost $830,000 to build.