Kent man charged in fertility clinic bombing died by suicide

A 32-year-old Kent man, charged in June with a California fertility clinic bombing, died by suicide while in custody at a Los Angeles federal detention center.

Daniel Park died from blunt traumatic injuries, according to a report by the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner, which ruled his death a suicide.

Park jumped to his death from a high interior balcony at the Metropolitan Detention Center at about 7:30 a.m. June 24, according to the Los Angeles Times. Park was found unresponsive and taken to a local hospital where he died, according to a Federal Bureau of Prisons press release.

Park arrived at the Los Angeles facility on June 13, under pretrial status after being indicted for malicious destruction of property.

Park allegedly provided material support to the Palm Springs, California fertility clinic bomber by shipping and paying for significant quantities of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor, prior to the suicidal bombing attack in May, according to federal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of Twentynine Palms, California, drove a car containing a bomb to a fertility clinic in Palm Springs on May 17. Bartkus detonated the bomb, killing himself, injuring numerous victims, destroying the fertility clinic’s building and damaging surrounding buildings and areas. Bartkus’s attack was motivated by his pro-mortalism, anti-natalism, and anti-pro-life ideology, which is the belief that individuals should not be born without their consent and that non-existence is best, according to the DOJ.

Park, who shared Bartkus’s extremist views, according to the DOJ, reportedly shipped large quantities of explosive precursor materials to Bartkus, including approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate. Days before the Palm Springs bombing, Park paid for an additional 90 pounds of ammonium nitrate that was shipped to Bartkus.

Park allegedly sent the first shipments of ammonium nitrate to Bartkus shortly before traveling to Bartkus’s residence, where he stayed with Bartkus from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8. Three days before Park arrived at Bartkus’s house, records from an AI chat application show that Bartkus researched how to make powerful explosions using ammonium nitrate and fuel, according to the DOJ.

During his stay at Bartkus’s residence, Park and Bartkus spent time in Bartkus’s room as well as in a detached garage “running experiments,” according to the affidavit. This was the same garage where law enforcement, during a search after the May 17 bombing, located significant amounts of chemicals commonly used in the construction of homemade bombs.

Search warrants conducted at Park’s residence in Kent in the wake of the bombing led agents to identify what they say was his role in the explosion, according to the FBI.

Four days after Bartkus conducted the suicide bombing, Park flew to Europe. On May 30, Park was detained in Poland and later was ordered deported to the United States.