Read the federal complaint against the Washington man linked to Palm Springs bombing
- Daniel Jongyon Park, 32, was arrested in connection with the Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing.
- Park is accused of supplying ammonium nitrate to the deceased bombing suspect, Guy Edward Bartkus.
- The two allegedly met on an online forum and shared antinatalist beliefs.
- Park is accused of providing material support to a terrorist.
- Park's online posts reveal a history of antinatalist views.
Daniel Jongyon Park, 32, of Kent, Washington, has been arrested in connection with the bombing of a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced on June 4.
U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli said at a news conference that Park shared the "extremist beliefs" of bombing suspect Guy Edward Bartkus, who died in the blast that injured four others on May 17. The Desert Sun, part of the Paste BN Network, reported that it's believed Bartkus held "antinatalist" views.
Essayli said Park is accused in a federal complaint of "providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist." Essayli said Park shipped about "180 pounds of ammonium nitrate" to Bartkus and visited Bartkus' home in Twentynine Palms, California, before the bombing.
Park was expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on June 4.
Read the federal complaint here:
Who is Daniel Park, the alleged Palm Springs bombing co-conspirator?
Daniel Park of Kent, Washington, about 40 minutes south of Seattle, is accused of shipping 270 pounds of ammonium nitrate to Bartkus in the days leading up to the Palm Springs attack.
The FBI said Park and Bartkus met on an internet forum, and Park spent two weeks visiting Bartkus' residence in late January/early February this year, spending time running tests for the bombing.
Days after the bombing, the FBI said, Parks left the U.S. to go to Europe.
When asked by a reporter whether anyone else is suspected in the bombing, the FBI said they could not answer the question as the case remains active and under investigation.
When reached by Paste BN, the Port Authority Police Department directed questions to the FBI.
Paste BN has also reached out to the NYPD.
Criminal complaint reveals insights into Daniel Park's alleged anti-natalist history
The criminal complaint said that social media posts made from an account registered to “a known email address for Park” made comments in forums titled pro-mortalism and anti-natalism as far back as 2016.
While the complaint did not identify the social media platform or Park’s username, the complaint did include quotes from Park’s alleged posts.
In several instances, the Desert Sun was able to find matches to the posts described in the complaint to posts on Reddit under the subreddit r/antinatalism, a dedicated page for the ideology.
One of the online postings the complaint said Park made was from 2016, where he said that anti-natalism is a “positive and hopeful thing” and described death as an option to those who are lost.
The Desert Sun found the post on Reddit and, in response to another user, Park allegedly said in the same thread he was thinking of getting an “AN related job” and “doing whatever I can to reduce others sufferings, convert more people to AN, etc.” It's not immediately clear if "AN" stands for anti-natalism or refers to something else.
In another post described in the complaint, Park in 2016 responded to a question about what people have done to not have children.
“I think a better question is what did you do to make other people not have children,” his response read. “I don’t think I did much. Dunno what I can do about other people. I just try to mention it when people seem like they’re willing to listen.”
More recently, in March of this year, according to the complaint, Park sought anti-natalists "or adjacent" around the Washington state or Pacific Northwest area, expressing a desire to join a local group and start protests or get involved in in-person events.