Former US President Donald Trump is safe after US Secret Service agents shot at a man pointing an AK-47-style rifle through a fence while the ex-president was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, authorities confirmed during a press conference Sunday.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that his office received a “shots fired” call from the Secret Service at 1:30 PM local time. The sheriff added that a witness saw a man running out of bushes into a vehicle and provided pictures to police. Bradshaw reported that an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks filled with ceramic tile, and a GoPro camera were discovered at the suspect’s position.
Deputies from the neighboring Martin County Sheriff’s Office later located and stopped the suspect’s vehicle, and the witness positively identified the driver as the suspect, who was taken into custody.
The FBI said in a statement that it “is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.”
Law enforcement sources told AP that the suspect has been identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh. The suspect spoke to the New York Times in 2023 after he attempted to volunteer for Ukraine to fight Russia’s invasion of the country. Routh was apparently attempting to recruit Afghans for the Ukrainian war effort.
President Joe Biden said he was “relieved that the former President is unharmed.” “As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety,” Biden continued.
Trump was previously the target of an assassination attempt at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a bullet grazed his ear. The gunman in that attempt, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by Secret Service snipers after he wounded Trump and killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore. Then-Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned a little over one week later, after calling the July attempt the “most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”
The FBI has taken over the investigation into Sunday’s incident.
