A car exploded on Saturday near an American Reproductive Centers clinic on North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, California. One person has died and five others were injured. According to initial reconstructions by authorities, the victim may also be the perpetrator of the explosion, which destroyed part of the center.
“Police and firefighters are on the scene,” a statement from authorities said, “and are asking residents not to approach the area so that rescue workers can operate.”
The clinic’s director, Dr. Maher Abdallah, told Associated Press that all staff members are safe and that several offices where medical visits with patients are conducted, have been destroyed. The laboratories where embryos are stored for in vitro fertilization survived the blast. “Thank God,” Dr. Abdallah commented, “we had no patients today.”
“This morning,” reads a statement from American Reproductive Centers, “an unexpected and tragic incident occurred outside our Palm Springs facility when a vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building.”
Images show how the force of the blast was so strong that a large amount of debris from the building was scattered onto the street, even though the car exploded in a parking lot on the other side of the building. “The explosion was significant, covering several blocks” said Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI field office in Los Angeles, explaining that roads would be closed to look through the 250-yard debris field. Davis also said that evidence response teams and bomb technicians are on scene to gather further evidence, and made clear what many have already suspected up to this point: “this is an intentional act of terrorism. The FBI is treating it as such.”
The Palm Springs Police Department is coordinating with various federal agencies in the investigation, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force and ATF. “Terrorism came knocking on the door of Palm Springs,” said Palm Springs Police Chief Andrew Mills, emphasizing that this was an isolated incident. “We survived, and I can tell you … this city will rise.”
