The man charged earlier this month with conspiring to assist the suspected California fertility clinic bomber has died in federal custody, according to a statement from the Bureau of Prisons.
Daniel Park was found unresponsive on Tuesday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, the federal law enforcement agency said.
“Responding employees initiated life-saving measures. Emergency medical services (EMS) were requested while life-saving efforts continued,” the statement said. “Mr. Park was transported by EMS to a local hospital and subsequently pronounced deceased by hospital personnel.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service were notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.
Park, a 32-year-old Washington state native, was charged with conspiracy to manufacture an unregistered device and terrorism in the car bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
The explosion occurred on May 17 at about 11 a.m. local time, rocking nearby buildings and leading to a fire and the collapse of a building, according to authorities. The debris field covered over 250 yards.
Four people were transported to the hospital for injuries sustained in the blast but were released the following day, officials said at the time.
The clinic, the American Reproductive Center of Palm Springs, said no members of its staff were harmed, and its lab — including all eggs, embryos and reproductive materials — were undamaged in the attack.
The primary suspect in the case, 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, was found dead next to the detonated vehicle, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s LA field office said last month.
Park was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York earlier this month after being detained in Poland on May 30, officials said at the time. Park allegedly fled to Europe four days after the bombing, officials said.
Park allegedly shipped approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor commonly used to construct homemade bombs, from Seattle to Bartkus in California as part of a plot related to the pair’s nihilist beliefs, according to officials. Park also allegedly paid for an additional 90 pounds of the substance in the days leading up to the Palm Springs attack, officials said.
Federal investigators allege the materials were used in the car bombing. Park also allegedly spent two weeks visiting the main suspect’s home in late January and early February of this year, the officials said. The two are believed to have been conducting experiments together in the main suspect’s garage.
Park and Bartkus followed a “pro-mortalism, anti-natalism, and anti-pro-life ideology,” officials said in a press conference after his arrest, adding the pair believed people should not be born without their consent and “nonexistence is best.”
Park and Bartkus appeared to have found each other in chat forums online as like-minded individuals, according to officials.
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