The father of the man accused of setting off a bomb outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, has said he does not recognize the person accused of the attack.
Richard Bartkus, who hasn’t spoken to 25-year-old suspect Guy Edward Bartkus in more than a decade, gave an emotional interview to CBS News Los Angeles where he described how he remembered his son as someone who always “tried to help people.”
“He’s a good kid,” Richard Bartkus said through tears. “After Twentynine Palms, he just changed,” he added, referring to the California city where his son lived, which is also home to a Marine base.
The FBI has identified Guy Edward Bartkus as the main suspect in the blast, which occurred outside the American Reproductive Centers clinic on Saturday. The agency believes the 25-year-old died after detonating explosives in his 2010 silver Ford Fusion outside the IVF center.
On Saturday, Akil Davis, head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said they were treating the incident as an “intentional act of terrorism.”
Davis added that online posts and other evidence suggested the suspect had “nihilistic ideations,” and that this was a “targeted” attack against an IVF facility.
FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller also said the agency was investigating whether the suspect’s alleged “antinatalist views” were a motive behind the attack, reported NPR. Antinatalism is the belief that it is morally wrong to have children.
Richard Bartkus told CBS News Los Angeles that he learned about his son’s suspected death in the blast through news reports.
He also recalled how, as a child, his son accidentally burned down the family home while playing with matches, and used to make “kid things” like smoke and stink bombs.
Despite this, Richard Bartkus said he never saw anything to suggest his son would one day become a suspect in a terrorist attack.
“He didn’t make anything dangerous. When I say bombs, it wasn’t like a real bomb,” he explained. “It was like something you just throw on the ground and it pops.”
“I don’t know what changed his mind. Maybe a girl, maybe the people he was hanging out with up there. It wasn’t him. Before that, Guy was more about helping people.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a Saturday statement that he was “working closely” with local and federal authorities. Attorney General Pam Bondi also said she had been briefed on the explosion, describing the attack against the fertility clinic as “unforgivable.”
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