One person has been killed and at least five people have been injured in an “intentional act of violence” against a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Saturday that she had been briefed on the incident.
“We are working to learn more, but let me be clear: the Trump administration understands that women and mothers are the heartbeat of America. Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable,” she said on X.
A deliberate attack
An explosion outside a California fertility clinic that left one dead and several injured was caused by a bomb, the Palm Springs mayor Ron deHarte has said.
Palm Springs Police spokesperson Mike Villegas called it an “intentional act of violence,” according to The Desert Sun.
Firefighters in the city responded to the explosion at the American Reproductive Center.
Deceased person believed to be suspect
The person who was killed is believed to be a suspect, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The Palm Springs mayor told The Los Angeles Times in a text that he could “confirm it was a bomb in or near a vehicle parked at the building. One deceased.”
Speaking to the Palm Springs Post, Lt. William Hutchinson with the Palm Springs Police Department confirmed that a car was responsible for the explosion. The department also confirmed that one person had been killed.
Police investigating possible ‘act of terrorism’
“Everything is in question, whether this is an act of terrorism,” Hutchinson told The Desert Sun.
A witness told the Post that he saw human remains in the street.
“In front of the building [the car] was blown clear across four lanes into the parking lot of [Desert Regional Medical Center],” the witness said. “I could see the back of the car still on fire and the rims. That was the only thing that distinguishes it as a car.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has confirmed that the FBI is investigating the incident to determine whether it was intentional. According to spokesperson Nicole Lozano, investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are also working to assess what happened.
‘This moment has shaken us’
Palm Springs resident Tamara Cash told The Desert Sun the explosion “was so loud it shook me. All I could hear was alarms going off in different buildings.”
Dr. Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Center’s fertility clinic where the explosion occurred, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that all of his staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the practice’s office space, where it conducts consultations with patients, but left the IVF lab and all of the stored embryos there unharmed.
“I really have no clue what happened,” Abdallah said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
“We are heartbroken to learn that this event claimed a life and caused injuries, and our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected,” he said in a statement, according to the Desert Sun.
“Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is,” he added. “In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope — because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.”
He said the clinic would be “fully operational” by Monday morning.
“This moment has shaken us — but it has not stopped us,” he said. “We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world.”
Nima Tabrizi, 37, of Santa Monica, said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
“The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke,” Tabrizi said. “Crazy explosion. It felt like a bomb went off … We went up to the scene, and we saw human remains.”
Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a city of roughly 45,000 people about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. It became a popular resort at the turn of the last century, and since the 1930s has been a regular haunt of movie stars getting away from the bustle of Hollywood, proving famously popular with the so-called Rat Pack of entertainers – including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. – in the 1950s. The city is also known for its modernist architecture.
The city is situated in the Coachella Valley within the Colorado Desert. Its population triples between November and March as it has become a prominent retirement and snowbird destination. Most of the snowbirds have been Canadians, but some have started boycotting the city amid President Donald Trump’s harsh policies and aggressive rhetoric against the US’s neighbor to the north.
Attacks on clinics
While the motive behind the explosion in Palm Springs remains unclear, there have been few reports of attacks on fertility clinics in the U.S. Abortion clinics have been more frequently targeted. Trump said during the campaign that he wanted to be “the fertility president” as a strong supporter of IVF, even as some conservatives are against the practice, but not in a way that has notably prompted violence.
Fertility treatments became a national political debate after Alabama’s supreme court issued a ruling that classified frozen embryos as unborn children.
The National Abortion Federation said in its report documenting violence against abortion clinics in 2023 and 2024 that there were 1,199 violent incidents at abortion clinics during those years.
“Although many clinics have closed as a result of abortion bans, we continue to see sustained harassment and violence that wouldn’t be tolerated against any other healthcare providers or profession,” said the organization’s chief program officer, Melissa Fowler, according to Ms. Magazine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
