An explosion that authorities believe was “an intentional act of violence” outside a fertility clinic left one person dead in Palm Springs on Saturday.
The blast was reportedly felt more than two miles away and severely damaged the clinic and several other buildings.
The Palm Springs city government said in a statement that the incident occurred just before 11 a.m. on North Indian Canyon Drive near East Tachevah Drive.
Photos from the scene showed extensive damage to American Reproductive Centers, a fertility clinic and in vitro fertilization lab across the street from Desert Regional Medical Center.
Palm Springs officials said that the explosion came from either inside or near a car parked on Indian Canyon outside the clinic.
“The blast appears to be an intentional act of violence,” Palm Springs Fire Chief Paul Alvarado said.
Alvarado said one person was killed, and their identity was unknown.
Alvarado said the FBI was on scene and working with Palm Springs police.
Investigators, bomb technicians and an evidence response team from the FBI were being deployed, the agency said in a statement on X.
By mid-afternoon, emergency officials had blocked off roads near the blast and white police trucks were stationed in front of the building.
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One witness told the Desert Sun newspaper that he saw body parts and car parts when he walked past the clinic five minutes after the blast.
The phone line to the clinic was out of service Saturday afternoon.
American Reproductive Centers is “Coachella Valley’s first and only full-service fertility center and IVF lab,” led by board-certified physician Maher A. Abdallah, according to its website.
Abdallah told The Associated Press in a phone interview that the clinic had no patients on Saturday and 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, Abdallah told the wire service.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a social media post that his office had been briefed on the explosion and “is coordinating with local and federal authorities to support the response.”
