California Bombing Suspect Once Burned Family House Down, Was ‘Easily Influenced,’ Dad Says

The father of the 25-year-old man suspected of bombing a Southern California reproductive clinic says his son was a smart but easily influenced child who once set their house on fire while playing with matches.

Guy Edward Bartkus, who authorities believe was the lone person killed in Saturday’s Palm Springs blast, had a fascination with lighting fires and making model rockets and smoke bombs as a teenager, his father, Richard Bartkus, told various media outlets.

“Nothing major, nothing like a ‘bomb’ bomb, but he’d build rockets, shoot them in the air,” he told The New York Times of his son, whom he said he hadn’t spoken to for more than 10 years after divorcing his mother.

Damage to a reproductive clinic in Palm Springs, California, is seen on Saturday.

via Associated Press

The younger Bartkus accidentally burned down the family’s Yucca Valley home at the age of 9, which landed him on juvenile probation, his father said.

The elder Bartkus, speaking to KTLA, said his son was “a follower who was easily influenced by others.” He repeated that description to the Times and said that it sometimes got his son into trouble.

“If somebody came along and said this was a good idea, he’d probably go along with it,” he said.

Bartkus told KTLA that he lost contact with his son, who had opted to live with his mother after his parents’ divorce.

“What my wife, what my daughter knows, I really don’t know, but they had to see a change in him. They don’t just go off like that and nobody sees a change,” he said, later saying: “I was too strict for him, so I think he wanted to stay with mom when the divorce came through.”

Authorities have identified Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, as the prime suspect in the bombing.

via Associated Press

An online manifesto that the 25-year-old purportedly wrote expressed opposition to in vitro fertilization and human reproduction. It also cited the recent death of a friend who shared his “nihilistic” beliefs. The two had an agreement that “if one of us died, the other would probably follow,” according to a review of the writings by LAist.

Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said Sunday that authorities had not confirmed that the writings indeed were by Bartkus, who is believed to have acted alone in the attack that is being treated as an act of terrorism.

“The subject had nihilistic ideations, and this was a targeted attack against the IVF facility,” he said.

Davis declined to say what kind of materials were used in the explosive, saying it’s still under investigation.

The blast was powerful enough “to throw pieces of vehicle hundreds of feet in the air and then several blocks away. You can use your imagination for how big that bomb device was,” he said.