Palm Springs bombing suspect talked about explosives on YouTube, authorities say
PALM SPRINGS, CA — Several days after the fatal explosion near a Southern California fertility clinic, a clearer picture has begun to emerge of the suspect and the motivation for the attack. Authorities are investigating whether anyone else knew the suspect's plans beforehand.
The FBI has named Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of Twentynine Palms, California, who died in the Palm Springs blast, as the suspect in the bombing. The FBI confirmed Bartkus' DNA matched that of the lone casualty of the May 17 blast.
Investigators believe Bartkus acted alone, though his online communication is being scrutinized for the possibility that others knew of the attack in advance. Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills told The Desert Sun, part of the Paste BN Network, that Bartkus discussed explosives online as far back as 2022.
"I don’t know that he had any help. I do know that he was discussing this in chat rooms and on YouTube channels, he was experimenting with different explosives," Mills said. "There was a conversation in the dark web, if you will, over this kind of thing."
Mills noted that the FBI continued to investigate Bartkus' online activity and said determining whether anyone else knew of the plans and should face criminal charges would be up to the federal investigators.
"That’s an FBI responsibility. They will get to the bottom of that, I am fully confident," Mills affirmed. "There may be nobody that’s charged, but we will turn over every rock to make sure."
'Subject had nihilistic ideations'
Akil Davis, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI field office, called the incident "one of the largest bombing investigations we've had in Southern California." Davis compared the blast to the scale of the Aliso Viejo bombing in Orange County in 2018. Davis said that investigators believe Bartkus targeted the fertility clinic based on his online posts and an apparent "manifesto" they were reviewing.
"The subject had nihilistic ideations, and this was a targeted attack against the IVF facility," Davis said. "We are treating this as an intentional act of terrorism."
The FBI has confirmed it is looking into eyewitness reports that a tripod was found at the site of the bombing that appeared to be intended to livestream the incident.
Bartkus' father, Richard Bartkus, described a childhood incident when Guy Bartkus played with matches and burned their house down. A YouTube account that has been deactivated and appears to have belonged to Guy Bartkus shows videos of experimentation with explosives going back six years, according to an archived version of the website.
The FBI has not confirmed any of Bartkus' alleged online accounts, and a spokesperson for the bureau declined to comment on the suspect's online activity when asked by The Desert Sun.
'It's a very heavy piece of equipment'
Though some questions have been answered, the FBI has still not revealed the type of explosive material that was used or precisely how much explosive power was involved.
Dwain Wall, a Palm Springs resident who was one of the first people on the scene after the explosion, found a propane torch in the parking lot of a nearby Denny's that he turned over to the FBI as evidence.
"It's a very heavy piece of equipment," he told The Desert Sun. "It was solid. All it had was a very tiny, almost like gun barrel, a solid gun barrel, but a very tiny opening that the gas is forced through."
The logo on the device identified it as a Bernzomatic Trigger Start Torch, a consumer product available on Amazon for $47. When asked on May 18 about whether the torch could have been used to ignite the bomb, Davis did not directly comment.
"We are receiving hundreds of tips per day and we are following all of them," he said. "As you guys can imagine, how large this scene is, there is evidence strewn all about in a 360-degree perimeter, several hundred feet in diameter.”
The FBI appeared to be wrapping up its investigation of the crime scene in Palm Springs, a tony resort city located in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. The city is more than 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Palm Springs police have said there is no ongoing threat to the community. Authorities are investigating Bartkus' whereabouts on the morning of the attack.
The FBI said Bartkus drove a 2010 silver Ford Fusion sedan with the license plate number 8HWS848. Anyone with information about the suspect or attack can contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324 (800-CALL-FBI), or through the website, fbi.gov/palmspringsvehicleexplosion.
Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.
Contributing: Paul Albani-Burgio, Sam Morgen, Jennifer Cortez, Kate Franco, Robert Anglen, and Christopher Damien, Paste BN Network