A powerful bomb, apparently originating in a car parked outside a fertility clinic, rocked Palm Springs on Saturday, May 17, officials said, heavily damaging the clinic while killing one person, injuring at least 4 others and shattering windows at multiple businesses.

The blast occurred around 11 a.m. in the 1100 block of North Indian Canyon Drive in the parking lot of the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic.

“Make no mistake, this was an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI field office, said at an afternoon news conference in Palm Springs.

An image posted online by a witness showed what appeared to be a body near the blast scene. Davis said authorities have located a “person of interest” for whom they are not actively searching, but he stopped short of saying the suspect is dead.

Palm Springs police Chief Andy Mills called the case, with several blocks of buildings damaged, a “rapidly evolving investigation with a massive crime scene.

“There are blocks of debris, and it will take a meticulous effort to gather every bit of evidence,” he said at the news conference.

Mills described the explosion as an isolated incident, stressing the community is no longer in danger.

“Terrorism came knocking on the door of Palm Springs,” the chief added. “We survived. We will rise.”

The clinic is across the street from the Desert Regional Medical Center. It is not affiliated with the clinic and did not sustain any serious damage, the center said in a statement.

A host of federal authorities descended on the scene. Video posted online by witnesses and aerial TV views showed debris scattered in the street in front of the clinic and windows shattered at multiple businesses in the area. Residents reported feeling the shaking from the blast throughout the city.

The owner of the fertility clinic said in a statement that a vehicle parked near the building exploded, damaging the clinic’s office space. The blast appeared to originate in the rear lot, with the force of the explosion ripping completely through to the front of the building, and the clinic’s front facade thrown into the street.

Dr. Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic where the blast 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.”

Abdallah also posted a lengthy statement on Facebook.

See also: Doctor who runs IVF clinic damaged in explosion: ‘We choose hope’

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.”

Scott Pastorius, 61, a construction project manager from Los Angeles, told The New York Times he was sitting in his vacation home four blocks away from the explosion when he heard a loud boom. He drove to the scene, where he said a nearby liquor store and a pancake house had their windows blown out. The roof of the fertility clinic had collapsed, he said.

The American Reproductive Centers facility is not believed to have been open at the time of the blast. According to the business’ website, the clinic is the Coachella Valley’s “first and only full-service fertility center and IVF (in vitro fertilization) lab.” Its services also include LGBTQ family building, egg donation and freezing, fertility evaluations and embryo transfer.

Palm Springs police were coordinating with the FBI and working to determine who would become the lead investigative agency, Mills said.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to X, writing, “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.”

“This is probably one of the largest bombing investigations we have had in Southern California,” Davis said at the news conference, comparing it to the Aliso Viejo bombing in 2018.

In that case, a Long Beach rocket and explosives hobbyist crafted a homemade bomb that killed his ex-girlfriend, injured two other women and obliterated an Aliso Viejo day spa. For that, Stephen Beal is spending his life in federal prison.

The Desert Regional Medical Center issued a statement saying, “Hospital staff is cooperating with police as they investigate the cause. Our emergency department remains open and our hospital is fully operational. We are temporarily asking visitors to refrain from coming to the hospital as police have limited access to the road in front of our campus. Some windows were broken in a medical office building directly facing the explosion. Hospital operations have not been affected.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office issued a statement saying Newsom “has been briefed on the explosion.”

The state, through the Office of Emergency Services, is coordinating with local and federal authorities to support the response, the governor’s office said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for more information as it becomes available.