Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Donald Trump golfing with former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019.
Sevan Sinton
Associate News Editor
Around 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15, the Secret Service fired upon a man wielding a rifle on Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, who was golfing at the time, issued a statement notifying supporters that he is “safe and well,” nullifying rumors that he may have been injured.
400-yards from where Trump was located, U.S. Secret Service agents spotted the muzzle of a weapon appearing from a bush line and opened fire. The suspect was witnessed emerging from the bushes and fleeing the scene in a black SUV. The would-be assassin, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was subsequently arrested by Palm Beach County police off I-95. Found on the golf course were a bag, an AK-47 assault rifle, and a GoPro camera.
Routh presumably snuck onto the course via the “shrubbery concealed perimeter” according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
Routh was previously arrested in 2002 following a standoff with police, where he barricaded himself in a business following a traffic stop in Greensboro, North Carolina for three hours – according to News & Record, a Greensboro newspaper. He was charged with possessing a fully automatic machine gun and carrying a concealed weapon.
According to the Associated Press, both President Biden and Vice President Kamala were briefed on the situation on Sunday afternoon and were “relieved to know that he (Trump) is safe.”
“I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America,” wrote Harris, via X.
The FBI has announced they will be investigating the incident, “in what appears to be an attempted assassination.”
This attempt comes just 64 days after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president was injured in the ear.