Daniel Park accused of providing explosive materials in May 17 attack
By Darren Lyn
HOUSTON, United States (AA) – A man accused of assisting in the May 17 bombing of a Palm Springs, California reproductive clinic jumped to his death in prison, according to a report Thursday from news outlet TMZ.
Daniel Park, 32, of Kent, Washington, was pronounced dead at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles after being found unresponsive, according to the Department of Justice.
According to TMZ, federal sources said Park “stepped up on a table on an upper tier of the facility and jumped…plummeting to the ground floor.”
Authorities, however, have not officially released the cause of death.
Park was accused of being an accomplice in the bombing of the American Reproductive Centers in Palm Springs by helping supply the explosive materials used in the attack, which federal officials labeled an act of domestic terrorism.
He was arrested as he returned to the US from Poland, from which he was deported. Authorities said he “left the United States to go to Europe” days after the bombing.
Park was charged as an accomplice to the crime with providing and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist.
The primary suspect in the bombing, Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, was found dead at the scene. Officials said Park and Bartkus shared the same belief system opposing human reproduction and that Park had been posting online content about the subject since at least 2016.
According to the US Attorney’s office, Park shipped about 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which is “commonly used to construct homemade bombs,” to Bartkus’ home and arranged for another shipment of an additional 90 pounds.
Investigators said both men researched how to make explosive devices using ammonium nitrate and fuel and that Park was in possession of an “explosive recipe” similar to the device used in the deadly 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
Four people were injured in the Palm Springs bombing, which caused nearly $12 million in damages to the clinic and about 40 surrounding properties.
