Daily TribuneAn unnamed law enforcement source said the person who died was a suspect in the blast.
Two bomb disposal experts walk near the scene of a bomb blast that damaged a fertility clinic and killed one person, May 17, 2025, in Palm Springs, California.
Photo courtesy of Gabriel Osorio / AFP
PALM SPRINGS, United States (AFP) — A bomb exploded on Saturday outside a California fertility clinic, killing one person in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) labeled a terror attack.
The blast tore through downtown Palm Springs, ripping a hole in the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of nearby buildings, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist on the scene reported.
“Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office told reporters near the site of the fatal explosion.
“This is probably one of the largest bombing investigations that we’ve had in southern California,” he added.
He confirmed that one person near the clinic at the time of blast had been killed and that four others were wounded. Work was ongoing to identify the deceased, he added.
Asked whether the clinic was deliberately targeted, Davis answered: “We believe so, yes.”
The city’s mayor, Ron deHarte had earlier told AFP that investigators confirmed a bomb exploded in or near a vehicle outside the clinic.
Eyewitnesses told local media they had seen human remains near the American Reproductive Centers clinic, with aerial footage of the scene showing the building roof had collapsed.
The charred remnants of a vehicle lay in a parking lot, some distance from the apparent epicenter of the explosion.
Debris was blown straight through the building and scattered across the road, while the roofs of a number of nearby buildings had been damaged, indicating the intense force of the blast.
Davis of the FBI described the explosion as “significant” and said debris had been thrown more than 180 meters from the scene, but declined to comment further on the characteristics of the bomb.
The local ABC affiliate, which cited an unnamed law enforcement source, said the person who died was a suspect in the blast.
Davis told reporters that though the FBI was working to identify the deceased, “we are keeping that close hold in order to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
A statement posted on social media by the clinic said no staff had been hurt, and that its lab — “including all eggs, embryos, and reproductive materials — remains fully secure and undamaged.”
It said that “a vehicle exploded in the parking lot near our building.”
