The person believed responsible for an attack targeting a Southern California fertility clinic Saturday posted rambling online writings before an explosion that investigators are treating as an act of terrorism, according to a law enforcement official.
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The suspect, who died in the explosion that tore through the clinic and rattled the upscale California city of Palm Springs, also attempted to record video or stream the attack, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.
“Make no mistake: This is an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, told an evening news conference.
Authorities were still working to piece together a motive and build a chronology of events leading up to the attack. Though the FBI did not say how it had determined the explosion was terrorism, the writings left behind, in which the suspect communicated a belief that the world should not be populated, appear to shed light on the person’s state of mind and help explain investigators’ thesis that the attack was targeted and intentional.
Authorities have not released the identity of the person thought to be responsible but believe the individual died in a car explosion. Davis said investigators weren’t looking for anyone else.
Four others were injured but details of the severity of their injuries weren’t shared.
A burned-out vehicle was seen in the parking lot behind the clinic after the blast, which caved in the building’s roof, sprayed debris across a five-lane road and shattered windows in businesses blocks away. The clinic was closed for the weekend, and the doctor who leads it told the AP its staffers were safe.
The blast gutted the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic, housed in a single-story building along a five-lane street lined with palm trees.
