After being apprehended in Europe, a Washington state man has been arrested and charged with having provided material support to a man who bombed a fertility clinic in California.
Daniel Jongyon Park, a 32-year-old resident of Kent, was charged with giving and attempting to provide material support to 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, who detonated a bomb near the American Reproductive Centers of Palm Springs last month, killing himself and wounding four others.
Park made his first court appearance on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Park supplied Bartkus with large amounts of explosive materials, including around 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Park allegedly sent the first shipments of the ammonium nitrate to Bartkus not long before traveling to Bartkus' residence, staying there from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8. While there, Park and Bartkus allegedly spent time "running experiments" on making homemade bombs.
Park is said to share the extremist views of Bartkus, including pro-mortalism (the view that death is better than life) and anti-pro-life sentiments, according to the DOJ.
Park, who traveled to Europe after the bombing took place, was arrested on Tuesday at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York soon after his flight from Poland had arrived.
Attorney General Pam Bondi commended Polish officials for their help in the arrest of Park.
"Bringing chaos and violence to a facility that exists to help women and mothers is a particularly cruel, disgusting crime that strikes at the very heart of our shared humanity," stated Bondi.
"We are grateful to our partners in Poland who helped get this man back to America and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law."
Authorities say Bartkus parked a car laden with explosives in a parking lot near the fertility clinic.
In addition to the heavy damage inflicted on the clinic building and injuring victims, the explosion also damaged multiple neighboring businesses, including a medical center, a Denny's restaurant and Palm Springs Liquor.
Dr. Maher Abdallah, who oversees the clinic, said in a statement that the explosion unharmed the clinic's lab and stored embryos.
"We are immensely grateful to share that no members of the ARC team were harmed, and our lab — including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials — remains fully secure and undamaged," stated Abdallah.
Bartkus reportedly posted a manifesto online in which he espoused anti-pro-life sentiment and invited people to watch his livestreamed suicide attack on the clinic.
"I think we need a war against pro-lifers," read the manifesto, in part. "It is clear at this point that these people aren't only stupid, they simply do not care about the harm they are perpetuating by being willing agents for a DNA molecule."
The manifesto directly addressed Christians, declaring that "your god definitely doesn't exist, but if he did, I'd choose satan over your evil god."
